A pack of little white lies is adding up for a father in Hunan province.

Huang Xiaoyong told the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald on Tuesday that he's looking for a volunteer to pretend to be his dead son in order to put a patch on a lie he told his mother seven years ago.

Huang's son, Huang Ge, was diagnosed with congenital muscular dystrophy in 1995, and died at 21 in 2009. Worried about the young man's elderly grandmother, the family has lied to her, saying Huang Ge has been receiving medical treatment in Guangzhou.

Last weekend, the grandmother, now 89, became suspicious and asked for more information on her grandson. Huang lied again and told her Huang Ge could now stand up with help of a cane. The grandma is insisting she meet the grandson, whom she raised, in person.

Seeking to comfort his mother, Huang wants to recruit someone to help him continue the deceit and intends to say the grandson would be sent abroad to receive treatment for the next five or six years.

As the grandma's eyesight has been failing, she wouldn't recognize her grandson's face, Huang said, so he is looking for a local man who would be of a similar age and size to his son had he lived.

Huang Ge grew up in his grandmother's home after his parents divorced when he was a baby. Told he would only live until 18, he exceeded everyone's expectations. He spent the last three years of his life on a thanksgiving trip with his father to express his appreciation to those who had offered assistance. In 2006, on a CCTV program, he was named one of the top 10 people who touched the hearts of Chinese people.