Table of Contents

May 2012 Newsletter

Children currently being helped

Kang Xu (Boy, 6, congenital heart disease): has finished the first surgery and was discharged to go back home.	Yong Xiang (Boy, 2, retinoblastoma): the follow-up doctor’s visit in April turned out to have good results.	Minghe Qin (Boy, 10, burn trauma): the scalp and skin operation went very well and showed many positive results.	Yuxuan Ding (Girl, 2, hydrocephalus): her health condition has improved through the rehabilitation.	Xinting Guo (Girl, 3, thalassemia): with enough funds collected, she was just waiting for the transplantation and the post-surgery rehab.
Xingyi Huang (Girl, 4, burn trauma): pictures were taken one year after the burn injury.	Yinuo Liu (Boy, 8-month-old, congenital heart disease): had a surgery in April and the post-surgery recovery was slow so he is still on the ventilator.	Pannan Li (Boy, 7, congenital heart disease): will have his surgery in June and he is still short 20,000 Yuan for the surgery expense.	Wanyuan Jiang (Girl, 12, congenital heart disease): is still short RMB 30,000 for the upcoming surgery.	Tianyu Li (Girl, 3, aplastic anemia): passed away on May 25th, 2012.

Call for help: Please help Wei Liu build a new body. He has severe fractures.

On April 7, 2012, a nightmare fell upon Wei Liu's family who lives in Dangang Village, Shengwan Town, Xichuan County, Henan Province. After 3pm, 11-year-old boy WeiLiu and a group of children were playing hide and seek at a brick factory in the village. He and a friend out of the blue hid in an inactive cement brick machine. Unfortunately, his friends pushed a button on the machine—and it started! When his father Xiaojin Liu rushed to the top of the machine, he only saw his son’s head and an off-and-on calling for help, “Dad…help me…help me…dad…” The moment his dad and villagers very carefully pulled the child out of the brick machine, his dad’s heart was crushed and his tears poured down like rain. Wei’s whole body was covered with blood and flesh, along with sand grains and cement. His mom rushed to the scene and fainted on the ground.

He was transferred to the Orthopedics Department at a local hospital. At that time his bedding was soaked with blood. His blood pressure was down to 32/21 and he had a shock due to blood loss. After 11 hours of resuscitation, his blood pressure went back to 116/77. In the morning of April 8, Wei Liu had his first surgery.

The check-up results: Tear and separation of back scalp; Squeeze, tear and separation from his inner thigh, genital area to umbilicus; Muscle tear from right buttock to posterior rib; Right knee fracture, skin and flesh tear; skin and flesh on palm, posterior hand; possible amputation of nails and distal phalanx of middle and ring fingers; spinal fracture; pelvic fracture; dislocation of pelvis. From April 13 to May 11, Wei Liu endured 5 surgeries to clean his wounds.

His family already spent $328,000 Yuan on 6 surgeries and medicines. Holding on to the belief that they won’t give up even with one thread of hope, Wei’s father and uncles already mortgaged their house. However, his ever-increasing treatment bills stripped their ability to borrow any more money.

Wei Liu's tragedy moved every Good Samaritan’s heart. On May 21, volunteers in Nanyang raised money for his ambulance fees to Beijing in front of Nanyang Institute of Science and Technology, Xinhua City Square and People’s Park. In the morning of May 22, Wei's ambulance left from Nanyang Central Hospital and arrived in Beijing 304 Hospital at 6pm on the 23rd. After a group consultation, the early diagnosis was crushing fracture and large-area tears on his whole body. Currently Wei Liu is receiving a detailed check-up. The most urgent treatment is to repair his wound to prevent infections. The child is constantly screaming in pain on his bed but is still hanging on bravely. Currently his fever is somewhat under control but his wound area is big. It is a difficult case and requires long-term treatment. Please extend your helping hand and help him survive this tragic event and rebuild his body!

Up-right: Wei is fighting for his life.

Left: The family's nightmare - the cement brick machine.

Special Report: Reborn "African" Boy Kang Xu

Kang Xu was born in a very remote rural area in Yunnan. Due to the lack of oxygen as the result of his heart problem, his lips, hands, and feet were always purple. Kang got sick easily, often had fever, cough and could hardly stand on his own feet. Now this 7-year old boy, is much weaker and smaller compared to his peers, weighs only 12 kg and stands barely 1 meter tall. Many volunteers have visited him and were left with an impression that he looked like a child born in a deprived area in Africa. At the age of 2, Kang was diagnosed with congenital heart disease, but his family was so poor and could not afford any treatment. He lost the opportunity to attend school due to his illness.

In the early March of 2012, with the help of many volunteers, his anxious father finally brought him to Shanghai Children’s Medical Center for a complete check-up. Cardiac catheterization angiography showed that Kang Xu had very complicated heart conditions. Fortunately, there were still chances for Kang to fully recover through cardiac surgeries. While Kang was waiting in the hospital for operation on March 14, Kang suddenly had a high fever, and was admitted into the intensive care unit (ICU) for treatment because of his life-threatening situation. His mother was rushed by train to Shanghai in order to see her child before he became worse. Fortunately, after many days of attempted rescue, Kang’s condition was finally stabilized. On March 26, he was transferred out of the ICU. When his mother was finally able to see her son, she broke down into tears. On March 27, during the surgery preparation, doctors found that Kang just had a new permanent tooth grown. In order to avoid risk of complications, the doctors recommended that they wait until his tooth fully grew out before they attempted the surgery. Kang was then discharged from the hospital again. Finally, on April 19, despite of all the unfortunate events, Kang successfully went through the first phase of surgery.

Kang Xu recovered very well after his surgery. His father said, “Before the operation, he had a very poor health condition, such as limited mobility, difficulty in standing or walking, and got tired easily. He could only eat a small amount of rice at a time. Sometimes, when he ate just a little bit more, he needed to be put in bed for a period of time to take a break. After the surgery, my child has recovered a lot. His skin tone is changing, and his lip and fingernail colors are improving. He can eat and consume larger amount of rice each time, and he feels much better too”. His father then went on and said, “Many people had told us to give up treatment on him, but as parents, we couldn’t. We prayed for help”. Fortunately, with help from many volunteers, the child received the surgery he needed. Before, this would have been unthinkable. Kang has recovered well, and the family thanked the volunteers with endless gratitude.

Just like a child born in Africa, Kang Xu	March 2012, Physical check-up in Shanghai	In February 2012, before the surgery (left) and after the surgery in April, skin tones have a great difference.

The cost of Kang Xu’s surgery totaled to be more than 40,000 Yuan (including the funding of 12,000 Yuan from A Life A Time Foundation; other foundations and caring people have contributed to the remaining amount). Due to the complexity of his heart disease, Kang Xu is ready for the 2nd phase of his surgery. We hope that people would continue to help this long-suffering, yet loving child, and to encourage his parents to not give up on him. We wish Kang Xu a quick recover from his surgery, and live a normal life as other healthy children!

Financial Report

Progress Report