It was 2011, and at Xiao Wang's school there were two classes of students: those who had an iPhone 4 and those who didn't. Wang came from a very poor family, so having access to an Apple phone was a completely impossible idea, but the boy wanted to be like the rest of his classmates, so he decided to make one of the worst mistakes of his life.
An iPhone for a kidney
Owning the latest iPhone was a status symbol, and if you were one of the few who could hold an iPhone 4 while walking through the hallways, you were instantly considered superior to everyone else . This situation led to problems among the students, as those with the device immediately became more important than the rest.
Due to this situation, Xiao Wang wanted to jump to the privileged side, and for this he was willing to do whatever it took. With 17 years behind him, any claim related to money caught his attention, but it was a discovery that ended up marking his path. The young man discovered that the human body can continue to lead a normal life with just one kidney, so he decided to look for a place where he could sell one in order to earn some money and qualify for the iPhone 4.
Unfortunately, these kinds of options exist in China, so our protagonist didn't take long to find a place. The problem lay in the sanitary conditions offered by this supposed hospital, a medical center of dubious authenticity that offered him 22.000 yuan for his kidney (about €2.800) after an operation that would cause him serious problems.
disabled for life
Wang achieved his goal. With the money received from selling his kidney, he was able to buy his long-awaited iPhone 4, but the price was higher than he could ever expect. Due to the conditions in the operating room, the wounds from the operation became infected, something that at first he preferred to hide from his parents, until his body said enough was enough, since the infection ended up affecting the healthy kidney that He had left.
Due to these complications, at 24 years old he is bedridden and dependent on dialysis for life. His family fought for compensation for the negligence suffered at the hospital, and although they won, it has done nothing to improve Xiao Wang's life.