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Girl issues mercy blood plead
By He Na (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-06-03 23:43
A 13-year-old girl suffering from heart disease has sent out a desperate life
or death plea for donors of a rare type of blood.
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| Wang Hong, 13, and her aunt in hospital, wait for blood donations
in Changchun, Jilin Province. [newsphoto] | Wang
Hong needs an operation urgently, but there is no guarantee she would survive
without a sufficient supply of AB-negative blood.
"There are only 3 in 10,000 people with RH-negative AB blood type, and barely
more than 20 are registered in Changchun," said Zhao Keyan, a doctor from the
Jilin Heart Disease Hospital, who is in charge of the operation. "Up to the
present, the Changchun blood reserve centre has only 300 millilitres of backup
of this type, which is far less than the operation needs."
Wang Hong is a shy girl. When she meets strangers, she always lowers her head
and clasps her hands behind her back. It is even hard for her to breathe and
walk when the weather is cold or she has a bad day. Her lips and nails are all
purple and black.
"A bad accident happened to her family," said Wang Jinlan, her aunt, who has
been with her in the cardiac ward. "Her father suffered from post-polio
syndrome, and her mother left them when she was 3. She was brought up by her
grandmother, but the illness (congenital heart disease) pursued her when she was
born, which caused us all much pain, too."
But despite Hong's poor health and the family's lack of money, she persisted
in helping her grandmother do housework. Then last December, her grandmother's
death left her devastated.
But people in Changchun heard of Hong's misfortune and began to do something
about it. More than 4,000 yuan (US$483) in donations has come in, and the Jilin
provincial charity department has also pitched in so that she doesn't need to
worry about the high medical costs.
"From age 2 to 5 is the best period for treating congenital heart disease in
children," Zhao said. "Wang Hong, at 13, has already missed that."
What's more, although more than 200 people visited the Changchun blood centre
to test their blood types, only a local journalist had the right kind.
"But this afternoon a soldier came in and said he had AB-negative blood and
once donated blood to a person of the same type," Zhao said. "He said if the
girl needs blood, he can find that person, and they would donate together.
"Under those circumstances, we plan to operate on the girl next Thursday or
Friday."
So, Wang Hong's future looks brighter. And then she received more good news:
"A headmaster, surnamed He, of a local elementary school has promised to
accept me to go to school for free when I recover from the operation," Hong
said, smiling.
"Thanks to all the people who helped me and cared about my
life."
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