Dong Dajun, father of a 5-year-old boy, was once an accountant at a company in Linyi, Shandong province, but now he pretends to be a woman selling flowers at an underpass near a hospital more than 600 kilometers away in Beijing.

He dresses in a thin, red robe and wears women's wigs in freezing temperatures hoping to attract the attention of more pedestrians and sell more flowers so he can save his son, Hui Hui, who is critically ill with lymph cancer. The boy is currently in an intensive care unit at Beijing Children's Hospital.

"No one responded to me or bought flowers in the beginning when I dressed normally," he said. "Then I remembered that whenever I would dress up in my wife's clothes, my son would laugh happily. Besides, people may notice me when I dress as a woman."

In the past week since he began selling flowers, Dong said, he earned about 200 hundred yuan ($30).

"It is not a big sum of money," he said. "But at least I can buy some toys for my son to give him some happiness."

Dong has not told Hui Hui about the cancer, and the boy does not know he could die. He thinks it is just a serious flu infection, Dong said.

Cancer was suspected in Hui Hui's neck in September by doctors at a hospital in Linyi, the family's hometown. Dong and his wife, Zhao Xiaoxue, took the boy to Beijing in October for treatment at the suggestion of doctors.

"The cancer was also found in many parts of his body, such as his chest and kidneys," Dong said. "The doctor said it's impossible to remove all the tumors in his body, and chemotherapy is the better solution."

In Beijing, they approached several hospitals but eventually settled on Beijing Children's Hospital. Hui Hui has now completed two chemotherapy treatments and is in his third round. Another eight treatments are needed, Dong said.

"Although he is almost back to normal after the treatments, the doctor told me his life is still at risk and fragile."

The high medical expenses worry Dong and his wife. The first chemotherapy treatment cost 140,000 yuan, he said - a backbreaking amount for someone whose salary was about 2,600 yuan a month.

The rural basic medical insurance program to which Hui Hui subscribes reimbursed about 40,000 yuan. Colleagues at Dong's workplace and some of his relatives and friends donated about 70,000 yuan, Dong said. He also borrowed about 140,000 yuan from others.

To save money, he and his wife rented a room in a two-bedroom apartment near the hospital for 2,700 yuan a month.

Zhao Xiaoxue, Dong's wife, said she feels both love and pain for her husband, seeing him engaged in an activity many would find humiliating.

Dong said he is planning to find a job in Beijing to pay the medical bills.

"I hope I can find a part-time job in the evening, so I can also look after my son," he said.

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn

Dong Dajun, father of Hui Hui, pretends to be a woman as he sells flowers to make money for his sick son in Beijing on Wednesday.