A five-year-old boy with a rare blood disease faces an agonising
wait to see if his parents can raise enough money for a second
life-saving bone marrow operation.
The boy's parents borrowed 200,000 yuan (US$27,027) for an
operation in July which involved a transplant from his 10-year-old
sister - but a second transplant is required.
Yang Chi, from Jiangxi Province, came down with a fever in
February and could not recover, so he came to Shanghai for
treatment.
In April, doctors at Shanghai Children's Medical Center
diagnosed him with acute acquired severe aplastic anemia, a disease
that wipes out bone marrow - a transplant was vital.
According to Chen Jing, a doctor at Shanghai Children's Medical
Center where Yang is receiving treatment, the donor's and
recipient's tissue types must match, or the recipient's immune
system will reject the implant.
Fortunately for Yang, his sister's bone marrow matched that of
his own.
Chen said the chances of a match are one in four between
relatives.
To donate marrow to her young brother, Yang Ying gave up her
final schooling examination in Jiangxi and came to Shanghai in
June, one month ahead of her brother's operation.
Yang Chi seemed to recover in the three months following the
transplant, doctors said.
To save money, Yang's parents rented a six-square-meter room on
Hunan Road - 20 kilometers away from the hospital - for 120 yuan a
month.
"It's too expensive for us to let our son live in hospital, so
during the period we lived in this rented room," said Yang Wuliang,
Yang Chi's father. "When it was time for Yang Chi to have a
check-up, we just took the bus to the hospital."
However, in November, Yang's disease recurred.
"Yang's original cells were still retained in his body and they
have engulfed all his sister's normal cells that had been
transplanted into his body," Chen said.
Doctors said Yang could take medicine for treatment, but it
would possibly fail to take effect concerning his recurrence. His
most hopeful option is to undergo a bone marrow transplant again,
which is expected to cost another 200,000 yuan. Chen said they had
reported Yang's case to the Shanghai Red Cross to apply for help
from the foundation.
(Shanghai Daily December 18, 2007)