text: A devoted Chinese father is desperately trying to raise money to pay his son's huge medical bills by dressing up a horse and begging people to ride him. Chen Yuntao, 38, wears a horse mask as he kneels on the busy streets of Hefei City, next to a sign asking for 'kind-hearted' people to get on his back for a ride for five yuan – the equivalent of 54p. The unusual fundraising is part of a desperate bid to raise money for his nine-year-old son Chen Minghao, who is suffering from leukaemia. Desperate father Chen Yuntao, 38, has started dressing as a horse and begging people to ride him in exchange for 54p. He is frantically trying to raise money for his son's ever-growing medical bills for his cancer treatment . Mr Chen kneels on the ground as he begs and has a sign, explaining his plight. The family are already in huge debt after son Minghao underwent 20 course of chemotherapy for leukaemia, and now the cancer has returned . The family is 160,000 yuan (£17,500) in debt for treatment he has already received, having already spent 200,000 yuan (£21,800) on medical bills, The People's Daily Online reports. The next course of therapy will cost between 400,000 and 500,000 yuan (£43,600 to £54,600). After Mr Chen first starting begging at the entrance of a subway the city management turned up within minutes to move him along – but when they learnt about his heart-breaking situation, they offered to help find him a better spot. 'I saw others raising funds in the street using a sign so I gave it a try', the 38-year-old said. 'If it wasn't the very last resort I would never have thought I would be begging on the street. 'Yesterday my son just completed the current stage of his chemotherapy and the doctors say that as soon as the boy is physically ready he can proceed to the next stage of treatment which I have no money for.' 'In the village I saw children paying to ride on horses so I thought I could pretend to be a horse and offer rides to raise money for my son. For my son I will gladly do anything.' Little Minghao, nine, has been in and out of hospital for treatment since 2011. His father said begging on the street while dressed as a horse was a 'last resort', but he would 'gladly do anything' for his child . As yet nobody has taken the opportunity to ride Mr Chen, but plenty of kind-hearted strangers have donated money. He came up with the idea of dressing up as a horse after watching children pay to be taken on a ride . Minghao was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in December 2011. After 20 courses of chemotherapy he was finally able to leave hospital in 2013 – but during a routine check-up in March the family was told his cancer had returned. As yet no-one has ridden Mr Chen, but many passers-by have donated money to him. Dr Xu, who is looking after Minghao, said in all the years the family had been in hospital he had never seen the father wear new clothes or bring the child in food. 'I know they are very poor but I didn't know that they were in such poverty', he said. Doctors of Minghao, pictured in his hospital bed, said they didn't realise the family was so desperately poor. The next course of his cancer treatment will cost up to 500,000 Yuan, but the family is entitled to some relief . 'To know Mr Chen is begging on the street in order to raise funds for his child is really sad and upsetting.' Nine-year-old Minghao said: 'The needles are not painful anymore. I hope to recover soon so that I can go back to school.' The family will qualify for seriously illness release on the next course of treatment, meaning they will have a 90 per cent reimbursement. However, Mr Chen will still need to find another 50,000 Yuan (£5,500) plus ongoing post-treatment medical expenses if Minghao begins to recover.
target: Desperate father is begging people to ride him to raise much-needed cash .
  Family is in thousands of pounds of debt from numerous rounds of chemo .
  Little Minghao, 9, needs further treatment after leukaemia came back .