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.?
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 three 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 center has only 300 milliliters of backup of this type,
which is far less than what 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
harder 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 three. She was brought up by her grandmother."
But despite her 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.
People in Changchun heard of her misfortune and began to do
something about it. Some donations have 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.
Although more than 200 people visited the Changchun blood center
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," Wang said, smiling.
(China Daily June 4, 2005)