Gender: Male
Date of Birth: May 2008
Region: Sanya, Hainan Province
Condition: Anal Atresia

Not very long ago, Chen Ruifang, Zibao’s mother was still tearful all day long, deeply anxious about her child’s life. The baby, Xu Zibao, diagnosed with anal atresia one day after his birth, needed three surgical operations before the age of one, in order to gain normal excretory function with a reconstructed anus.

Adding to the great misfortune, Little Zibao, who had been in weak physique, suffered from severe pneumonia after his first operation. At that time he was to pass his stool through a temporary opening on his belly, which sometimes caused part of his intestines to come out of his body through the opening. It was heartbreaking for his parents to watch their little baby enduring such torture. In order to raise money for Zibao’s medical treatments, his parents sold all their valuables such as their wedding rings, gold necklace, TV set and refrigerator. They also borrowed from their relatives and friends. However, several months later, with more than 30,000 RMB (about US $4,300) spent in several hospitals; their child’s condition did not improve.

In desperation, the couple turned to the media for help in the hope that someone would read their story on the newspaper would lend a helping hand. Within merely one week after the story was published, one of our volunteers in Beijing managed to bring Zibao to Beijing to meet with Dr. Li Long from Capital Institute of Pediatrics. The child finally received the operation he had long been waiting for. The surgery was a success and little Zibao is recovering well each day. His mother told us that her heart was full of joy every time she thought about her son being able to leave behind all the painful days and to live like a normal person. “We are so happy. We want to tell everyone in the world about this good news. My son has been reborn. Honestly, we owe our son’s life to people who kindly offered their help. This is something we would never be able to repay for the rest of our life. Still I want to thank all the kind people we’ve met – they saved my child and gave him a new life”.

Gender: Male
Date of Birth: Nov. 19, 2004
Region: Dali, Yunnan Province
Condition: Congenital Heart Disease

Running around in the yard, Little Yao appeared just as a normal cute boy with a bit of naughtiness written on his face. However, our volunteers could not help gasping when he lifted up his thick sweater to show his little belly – Right above his navel, his heart, the size of an egg, was beating rapidly and strongly, under a very thin layer of skin! All the volunteers were stunned by what they saw.

Little Yao was born on November 19th, 2004, in Dali Prefecture, Yun Nan Province. His heart, was found, quite frighteningly, to be beating right above the navel, covered by a layer of skin thinner than paper. He had since been in poor health. Despite all the efforts by his family to make him strong, Li Yao’s body was unable to keep up with normal pace of growth and development.

His parents had been bringing him to local hospitals since he was one year old. It was not until January 2008, when was there a definitive diagnosis: ectocardia (heart grew in wrong place), congenital heart disease with ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect and mitral insufficiency. The medical treatment would cost up to 200K RMB (about US $ 29K), which was not affordable to the family by any means.

Little Li Yao soon turned 5 and all his same-age playmates were growing up healthy and sound around him. Doctors had warned the parents that the older the child, the harder and riskier the operation would be. Just at the time when Li Yao’s parents were in desperation and didn’t know what to do, our volunteers raised most of the operation fee for the family. The surgery was done successfully in Shanghai Children’s Medical Center in March 2009, and Li Yao has since returned to his hometown.

Gender: Female
Date of Birth: Aug. 18, 2006
Region: Jian, Jianxi Province
Condition: Tracheostenosis

After reading the newspaper story of “a girl with late-stage tracheostenosis (narrowing of trachea)” on December 15, 2008, several of our volunteers managed to get in touch with the girl’s family members. The child, Xiao Kehan, was two years and three months old. Both parents are from Jiang Xi Province. She is the second child of the family with an older brother. During the time Kehan’s mother was pregnant with her, her parents’ relationship deteriorated. Her dad would beat his wife when she was already six months into the pregnancy. Heartbroken, her mom went back to their hometown and gave birth to Kehan. Kehan’s dad never once came back to meet his daughter, because of rural area’s common prejudice of valuing only the male child in the family. Her mother therefore had to raise Kehan all by herself. When Kehan was one year old, she was infected with herpes simplex virus. She was once sent to the emergency room during her hospitalization, when the doctor operated tracheotomy (cutting open the trachea) on her before putting her on life-support machine for 113 hours.

Misfortunes came one after another. Three months later, Kehan had severe breathing difficulties and later was diagnosed as “appearance of localized ring-shape tracheostenosis”. According to the doctor, her trachea would become narrower when she grew, eventually leading to death by suffocation. The doctor estimated that it would take only 2 months, for the scars from previous tracheotomy to put enough obstruction and cause deadly suffocation. Therefore if the child was left without any treatment, she would be dying painfully and slowly. The only way to save her life was surgical operation. The volunteers wasted no time to help save Kehan’s life. With the help of some loving volunteers, an artificial throat was implanted in Kehan’s body in January, 2009. The child’s life was rescued. (OSCCF's Emergency Fund provided financial aid of US $442.09 as part of the operation cost.)

Gender: Male
Date of Birth: Oct. 18, 2005
Region: Ankang, Shanxi Province
Condition: Severe Hydrocephalus

A passerby noticed a couple with a young child in arms, begging on the streets near Xijing Hospital in Xi’an. It was another poor baby with a sad story almost identical to the stories of many of those, who had been helped and saved by us: the ruthless illness, the failure of previous operation, the poverty and the high cost of another operation. All these put up a big question mark on whether this young life would have a chance to go on.

Volunteers in Beijing brought Xinliang to Beijing after learning his situation and raised money for him. Sadly, because of the long delay, Xinliang’s eye vision was partially lost. His surgical operation took place in November, 2008. Due to his weak physique, Xinliang experienced some post-operative reactions such as fever. However, with the collective efforts from the doctors, the parents and our volunteers, Xinliang’s recovery has been relatively good. His previous conditions were to some extent alleviated and the fluid accumulation was in control. He is now recuperating at home.