How helpless and lonely the only child is when his parents are ill in hospital.

This is an award-winning work of a national photography contest a few years ago, which has aroused widespread concern in the whole society.

In the photo, the middle-aged man's back is lonely and helpless, sitting between two beds with his hands on the edge of the bed.

In front of him are parents who are seriously ill and need companionship and care. Behind him are mortgages and car loans, as well as families who need to take responsibility.

This is a reality that only children born in 1980s have to face.

My own uncle is 50 years old and has only one daughter. My aunt died a few years ago and my uncle married a new aunt.

My uncle was ill in hospital for more than three months. During the action in Beijing, my sister and brother-in-law, who were only children, had to leave their jobs, leaving their son who had just entered junior high school at home and going to Beijing to take care of his uncle.

Both of them are civil servants, taking annual leave and asking for leave. Then there was nothing I could do. My uncle's aunt went to Beijing to replace her sister and brother-in-law.

My sister's child is also an only child, just 1 1 years old this year. When the couple are not at home, it is the aunt's sister who helps to take care of the children, which is equivalent to taking care of her late sister's grandson.

Uncle didn't fully recover for more than a month, and finally the doctor urged him to leave the hospital and let him go back to his hometown to rest.

Who knows that the house leaks and it rains all night. Shortly after returning to China, my uncle had a lung leak and was hospitalized, which developed into empyema.

When I was hospitalized in my hometown, my sister and my new aunt took turns to take care of my uncle in the hospital.

But later, my uncle became seriously ill and had to go back to Beijing for hospital twice. This time, my sister continued to ask for leave, and my brother-in-law took care of the children while working at home.

The kind new aunt also came to Beijing with her sister to take care of her uncle.

My sister's mother died about 10 years ago, when my uncle and aunt's sister and relatives at home helped to take care of her.

Now, my uncle's condition is not optimistic, and it has been more than two months since lung intubation and drainage. The patient was in pain, and his mood became anxious and bad.

Uncle is now faced with the question of whether the second operation can be done. There is great danger and uncertainty during and after the operation.

Sister, no one can discuss whether the operation should be done or not. Everything needs her to face.

In the past few months when my uncle was ill, I really felt the loneliness and helplessness of the only child in the face of his parents' illness. Even if economic conditions permit, I can hire someone. Many things must be done by my children, and no one else can replace them.

A few days ago, I tactfully discussed with my sister whether to prepare a shroud for my uncle or not, and my sister choked and said yes. ...

I wonder how my sister will spend the next day.

My husband and I are 69 years old, and we only have one child. I really don't want to see our children suffer so much pressure and pain for us in the future.

What we can do now is to take good exercise, delay aging as much as possible, make full preparations for providing for the elderly economically, and be independent and self-reliant in the future, so as to give children less trouble.

The only child is really lonely and helpless in the face of his parents' illness!