The desperate search to save 10-year-old Xiao Xin's life from leukaemia ended on Wednesday when doctors received donated bone marrow that was quickly injected into the little girl.
One thousand cc's of marrow was donated by a Taiwan University student early Wednesday and was quickly flown to Xi'an later that morning. The operation took eight hours.
Doctors began treating Xiao in October 2000 when they quickly began the search for matching bone marrow, the only thing that could save her. Xiao has been suffering from leukemia for a year.
A rare match was finally found in Taiwan last December.
"It is very difficult to find a bone marrow match. The probability only ranges from 1 out of 100,000 people to 1 out of 150,000 people among non-related people," said Xiao's doctor, Bai Qingxian at Xi'an Xijing Hospital.
But Xiao still faces an upward battle.
The next two or three years are crucial and dangerous complications could arise, Bai said.
(China Daily February 22, 2002)
