Michelle Flotteron from the United States has donated 5,000 yuan (US$604) to a family in Northeast China's Jilin Province who cannot afford treatment for their ailing child.

Zhang Xin was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukaemia earlier this month and needs immediate, costly treatment to survive.

Flotteron read of her plight in Monday's China Daily and immediately decided to offer help.

"I just cherish those children in trouble and I am glad to help them," she said.

The money was transferred to Zhang Xin and her family with the help of staff from the newspaper yesterday.

"My mother died of cancer. So I can understand how much pain the girl with leukaemia is in," Flotteron said.

She already has links with China, having adopted a baby girl from Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, four years ago.

"She is a gift from God," said Flotteron, adding: "I just want to repay others now, in return."

Flotteron wrote a card to Zhang Xin to pass on her best wishes to the little girl.

"I will ask my friends to join me to help the little girl when I go back to New York," said Flotteron, who is visiting China.

A complete course of treatment for Zhang Xin will cost 300,000 yuan (US$36,000), 100 times more than her family's annual income of 3,000 yuan (US$362).

Leukaemia is one of the most common cancers among children in China. It claims about 40,000 lives every year, about half of whom are children under 10 years of age.

Experts said a special leukaemia foundation was urgently needed to help children with the cancer, since treatment costs were too expensive for most families.

(China Daily June 26, 2003)