Linda Wells, distressed American mother of critically ill adopted Chinese girl Kailee, leaves Beijing for Shanghai today to continue her urgent mission, after a DNA test yesterday ruled out the discovery of Kailee's "biological father."

Wells, whose six-year-old will die unless she receives a bone marrow transplant -- hopefully from a member of her biological family -- said she was disappointed to hear that the man she found in Central China's Hunan Province turned out not to be Kailee's father, nor did his bone marrow match.

Kailee, whom Wells adopted from Hunan's Changde after being abandoned as a baby in 1997, is suffering from aplastic anaemia. Doctors said a bone-marrow transplant -- ideally from a sibling or parent -- is her only hope of survival.

"I'm sad, but I think there is still a lot of hope that by increasing the bone marrow registry, we will find a match," said Wells, who kicked off her China trip in mid-February.

Wells went to Kailee's birthplace last week. With help from the local Red Cross Society and media, she was able to find a man, who many believed was Kailee's biological father.

She brought the man's blood sample to Beijing to be tested by the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) on Monday, only to be disappointed.

Hong Junling, an official of RCSC, said his agency has been working to enlarge the number of donors on the bone marrow registry. Hong also said the bigger the bone marrow registry, the higher the odds that Kailee will be able to find a match.

(China Daily February 26, 2003)