R.I.P. Sista - Li Yan "Evelyn"

Li Yan was born in 1987 in China. When she was just three years old, she was left at an

orphanage with a simple note: “Please take care of my baby.”

She grew up there, spending her childhood without a family of her own. By the time she was 11, an American family came to adopt her. While this should have been the beginning of a new life filled with love, it became something very different.

Coming to America was overwhelming. Li Yan had to learn a new language, adjust to a new culture, and find her place in a large family with 12 children. But instead of being welcomed as a daughter, she was treated more like help.

The older children forced her to do their chores—feeding and caring for the horses, taking on responsibilities far beyond what a child should carry. If she made a mistake, the biological daughter would hit her. The mother stood by and said nothing. Sometimes, she even pulled Li Yan’s hair. The father was also harsh and would hit her.

Li Yan was a bright and intelligent girl, but she lived quietly and timidly, afraid to speak up. Deep down, she longed for love—for a real family. Instead, she felt invisible, more like a babysitter than a daughter. Every day, she cared for the younger children, picked them up from school, and carried the weight of a home that never truly accepted her.

At 18, she found the courage to call the police. But the family hid the truth behind a good image and blamed her, saying she was lying. Feeling unheard and alone, Li Yan made the difficult decision to run away.

All she ever wanted was a family that loved her.

Not long after, her life began to change. She met the man who would become her husband, and together they built the loving family she had always dreamed of. They had two beautiful children. For the first time, her smile was full and genuine—her eyes lit up with happiness. She poured all her love into her children and her husband, giving them the warmth she had been denied.

But life took a painful turn. She became sick with kidney disease. What seemed like a routine change in an appointment turned into something much more serious, and tragically, she lost her life.

Li Yan’s story is heartbreaking, but it is also one of strength. Despite everything she endured, she created love in her own life. She became the kind of mother she had always needed.

And in the end, that love—the love she gave her children and husband—is what truly defines her.

(Above is from my sister Sam.)

My sister Evelyn passed away. Li Yan was adopted from China when she was 11 or 12, I was about a year or so older and only there once in a while. I didn't speak much Chinese and she didn't speak much English but we found a common ground in VCDs with Mandarin or Cantonese or English audio / subtitles. In junior and high school a few of my friends who spoke Chinese befriended her, I loved introducing her to people who were our age and spoke her language. I can't imagine being orphaned somewhere, and then adopted to crazy people in another country after a decade.

"My pissed off Chinese sister." She did my favorite thing that anyone on this planet has ever done. She sprayed our father with the hose while screaming "FUCK YOU FATHER"... peak excellence. Punk rock as fuck. He deserved it. Those pieces of shit treated me like help too.

Eventually Paul and Bonnie threw her out on the street, I know she had it rough for a while. We reconnected on social media when we were older. Still didn't really talk that much. We didn't have good childhood memories to reminisce on, and the present was never really that great, but hey, we were living. She seemed happy being a mom. I didn't know she needed a kidney. She could've had mine. I feel an immense sadness right now.

We're raising money. I hate that we have to. If you can, please. Thank you.