Grandpa realizes travel dream through netizens

It may seem impossible for an aged man suffering from terminal cancer to fulfill a dream of touring the world, but his granddaughter made it happen within a few days through micro-blogging.

The miraculous journey started on May 11 when Ling Yifan, a 29-year-old girl from Beijing, posted a plea attached by a self-painted portrait of her grandfather, a terminal cancer patient yearning for travel around the world. Her micro blog on Weibo.com (the biggest Twitter-like platform in China) solicited worldwide bloggers to take a photo with the portrait in different locations around the world.

To Ling's surprise, the post was forwarded nearly 90,000 times and nearly 10,000 photos were taken in different places. Along with the photos, Ling also received an ocean of prayers for her grandfather.

The old man, despite his weak state, felt delighted and grateful to see the photos, said Ling. Limited by his physical condition, he always tries to scan them individually as much as possible until too tired to continue.