A LOCAL taxi driver, whose daughter is suffering from eye cancer, was praised by a customer as the cabbie returned a bag loaded with gold and diamond rings that had been left in his taxi, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    The cabbie, named He Wenlin, found the bag in his car at midnight Wednesday when he was taking the night shift. He handed the bag in to the taxi company at around 7 a.m. Thursday after he got off duty.

    “He called me in the early morning and told me that he had found a bag,” said the head of He’s taxi team, surnamed Liang. Liang said that the next thing they did was to begin searching for the owner of the bag.

    The bag owner, surnamed Chen, called the taxi company Thursday and asked if any driver had picked up his bag. Chen was surprised and relieved when he was told that the bag had already been brought back to the company.

    Chen said that he had been on a business trip in Shenzhen, and he left the bag in He’s taxi after he arrived at a hotel Wednesday night.

    “There are 170 grams of gold and six diamond rings in the bag, which is worth 50,000 yuan (US$7,251). I really appreciate that Mr. He handled my bag properly,” Chen said, adding that he thought he might not have been able to get his things back since he hadn’t kept the taxi receipt.

    Chen said that he wanted to show his gratitude to He by giving him money, but He turned down his offer.

    “The owner must have been so worried after losing the bag, so I handed the bag over to the company without thinking twice,” He said.

    According to Liang, He’s 2-year-old daughter was diagnosed with eye cancer in March last year. The girl might lose her eyesight in both eyes or even her life if she doesn’t receive timely treatments.

    He said that his daughter had undergone four surgeries over the past year and had already lost her eyesight in her left eye. Her last surgery was done Feb. 10, which cost the family over 40,000 yuan. According to He, the girl’s medical costs are at least 6,000 yuan each month.

    After Chen heard about what happened to He’s daughter, he raised over 2,000 yuan from his friends as a donation to He.

    He is now the only breadwinner in his family, as his wife quit her job to take care of their two children. Last year, He successfully raised some money for his daughter from the public by applying to receive donations on a charitable website. (Zhang Yang)