As Gu Xin lay on his deathbed he had only one concern the welfare of his parents.

The 22-year old, who was previously working in Beijing, died of leukaemia 10 days ago.

And among his final words posted on an Internet site were to ask who would be the salvation of his parents after his death.

His parents are laid-off workers living in a small farm in Jiamusi, a city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. They had to sell up their house to raise funds for saving their beloved son.

They are now facing debts of more than 200,000 yuan (US$24,660).

"How can my parents live through the rest of their life with such a heavy debt," Gu said.

He planned to write 50 letters to his parents before his death so they could read them over the remainder of their own lives as if their son was still living, his friends recalled.

His last words aroused strong public concern after it was posted at a website community by Pan Lei, one of his close friends and also his colleague working for www.soufun.com.

In only 10 days, up to 75,000 people have browsed the site for his story and many are willing to offer help for his parents, Beijing Youth Daily said.

Guo died only three hours after his last words were published on the website.

Before the last day of his life, he told his parents that he would repay their love and kindness in his next life, Gu Sheng, his father, recalled.

Four years ago, his son came to Beijing to study at college. He planned to carve out a career for himself after graduation.

After securing a job in the city a year ago, he planned to buy an apartment and a car within five years so that his parents could come and live with him.

But he was diagnosed with leukaemia in May and passed away on November 25.

To try to save Gu, his parents sold their house to cover the costs of his treatment.

But his hopes of survival became increasingly slim with each passing day after the money began to dwindle.

The parents could not afford to pay for a bone marrow transplant after chemotherapy cost the 300,000 yuan (US$36,991) they raised by selling off their house.

Some netizens have urged more people to support Gu's parents to help Gu to complete his unfulfilled wish.

Many said the plight Gu's parents are facing is not unique today.

"There are too many people like Gu and his parents needing help," wrote one.

"What the disaster Gu and his parents had were beyond any individual's power," they added, urging governments to step in to help such families.

(China Daily December 6, 2005)