Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle. Thank you for your contributions: PC $220; Anonymous JW $70; James Ko $90; En-Yong Foundation $100. Total: $480 (equivalent to 3,000 RMB).
We continue to follow up with Dongsheng's family as part of our Adopt a Family program. The family has had several health issues they needed to address with the donated money. The dad often has headaches and severe dizziness; the mother has gallstones, but because of the medical expenses, she delayed having surgery. We hoped they could take Dongsheng for a dental checkup as well. We gave the donation in two parts. The first part: On May 2015, the staff visited Dongsheng’s home to understand the actual situation of the family. The 2,000 RMB was given in cash to them. The family, in order to express gratitude, got a brush to write "thank you!" The second part: In early 2016, we gave the family 1,000 RMB, hoping they could have a good year. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle. Yumei's First Surgery: May 2015Yumei was admitted to the hospital on May 11, 2015 with a complex heart disease. One week after admission, she had a fever that turned out to be chickenpox. She was transferred to the Department of Infectious Diseases for 11 days. The doctor told Yumei’s father, "The child's condition is very serious. She needs two operations, and even with that, we might not be able to completely cure the disease. In combination with the surgical risk, the operation cost is high." On June 1, 2015, which was Children's Day, we wanted Yumei to be happy, so we sent her a toy. In order to allow family members to take care of Yumei while they waited for the surgery, we also gave 2,000 RMB to her father. Yumei’s surgery was on June 11, after she had been hospitalized for one month. The family was in a high state of tension. Seven hours after she was in the surgical room, her family received news that night: “The situation is not very optimistic.” Her father, outside the intensive care room, kept telling Yumei to stay strong. On June 16, she was transferred to the ventilator, and two days later, she was transferred to the general ward. On June 25, 44 days of hospitalization later, Yumei was discharged. The family agreed to stay in touch with us and contact us when she undergoes her second surgery. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.
Qiqi underwent a heart surgery in 2011 with support from LRS. In December 2015, while Qiqi’s brother was on holiday break, we delivered 5,000 RMB of donations into his hands personally. Physical Status Qiqi is already a big girl. She is in second grade. She is tall and can participate in many sports. Her mother says that her overall fitness is good this year; Qiqi has less colds. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle. Family Situation Ruijing’s family has six people in it. Her grandmother suffers from multiple health issues, including gallstones, kidney inflammation, hepatitis, mild Alzheimer's, and edema. She spends every day in bed, and the family spends nearly a few hundred dollars every month on medicine for her. Ruijing's grandfather has poor eyesight; anything within 3 meters is blurry. Her mother has always had a weak stomach, and her dad has a herniated lumbar disc and cannot do heavy physical activity. Her father did not go out to work this year. The family planted some oats and beans. However, for some reason all the bean seedlings died (nearly half of the villages experienced this as well) so there is no income at home this year. In August 2015, a Little Red Scarf staff visited Ruijing’s home to give her family 1,000 RMB. Because Ruijing’s grandmother is chronically sick, Ruijing and sister need someone to take care of them. As a result, her mother is unable to go out and work. We will donate 1,000 RMB to help them buy three Juemu pigs and to help with usual living expenses. Juema pigs are local commodities and yield good profit. In 2016, Little Red Scarf will be donating the remaining 1,000 RMB to Ruijing's family in hopes that it can help with some of their expenses. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle Xiao Ai is one of the beneficiaries of our Adopt a Family program in 2016. To care for her rural family, we wanted to raise funds for them to get a goat for milk. When I called Xiao Ai, she had just picked up her daughter from kindergarten. Her older son was about to come back from school. She was preparing lunch. Through our phone conversation, I learned how her family was doing. Heath Situation Xiao Ai is doing fine, although the scar has not healed very well. She was feeling better but still did not do much manual work. Xiao Ai is in charge of the domestic chores, such as taking care of the 3 children and housework. Her husband is in charge of the field work and feeding the milk goats. The whole family’s life is back on track. Her health is recovering and her children are growing. We are happy for them. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle. LRS helped Huzi have heart surgery in 2010. After the follow-up visit in 2015, we decided to accept Huzi's family into our Adopt a Family program for poverty relief. Huzi's mother passed away years ago. His father was physically unfit for migrant labor work, and could only take care of his own farm. Unfortunately, the yield of their small piece of land was very poor. In 2015, Huzi was to finish his high school education in the city. He rented a tiny room, cooked for himself, and lived without heat under the meager budget. His part-time job helped a bit, and sometimes, he received financial aid from his big sister, who's a migrant labor worker. Huzi's home was in a distant countryside. Their house was a deteriorated adobe building with mud walls and a clay roof. It leaked everywhere from rain and wind. We were worried. The condition was so bad that whenever it rained, we would call his father to check if the house was still standing. LRS evaluated the situation, and launched a fundraising effort to help Huzi's family. The objectives were to encourage his education and to rebuild their decaying house. The needs were met by Grandma Chu's Love Fund and Henry & Lisa, who donated $1600 USD and $400 USD respectively. The sum exchanged to 12,500 RMB. Immediately, we released 500 RMB as an urgent aid on March 16, 2015. It was for the family to purchase fertilizer and landscaping fabric sheets for the sowing season. In the following eleven months, we wired monthly 300 RMB to Huzi for his schooling expenses. When Huzi completed high school in the early summer of 2016, we released the balance of 8,700 RMB to rebuild their house. The new building was completed with concrete floor, board walls, and a tile roof. The demolition and concrete foundation were done by the family and volunteers from the village. A thank you letter from Huzi to LRS had more details of the project. Meanwhile, we received good news that Huzi was admitted to the Medical School of Hexi University. We in the LRS Lanzhou office are very happy for the outcome. And more importantly, we are so grateful that the donors, Grandma Chu's Love Fund and Henry & Lisa, stepped forward at the most critical time, giving life to this initiative. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle Boyu was sponsored by donors from the TFish 5K Walkathon.Update October 31, 2016During a follow-up post-surgery visit this year, we found out that Boyu was in need of additional surgeries, so we decided to include him in our LRS Care program.
For a period of time we had lost touch with Boyu's family due to his parent’s cell phone inactivation. We finally reconnected with his family through Dr. Tang and were able to talk with them on the phone. We learned that Boyu has completed two brain surgeries and is still recovering. However, his family can no longer afford the medicine that provides a critical protein to him. The $755 raised from the walkathon will help his family's financial situation. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle Follow the journey with Xiejuan as she undergoes surgery and recovers. September 4, 2016 Finally, Xiejuan's father received the long awaited phone call from Dr. Liu, who invited Xiejuan to check in to the hospital the next day, because the specialist was on the way for her operation. It was arranged to have a specialist from Beijing perform the surgery since Xiejuan had a very complicated heart condition. Her father felt great about the news, but on the other hand, he was also nervous because of the inevitable risks. September 5, 2016 We went to meet Xiejuan early in the day. "Little Red Scarf!" she yelled out, even before we arrived at the door. Obviously, our efforts of communication had paid off. She accepted us, and acted upbeat. September 11, 2016 Operation Day
Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle I first heard about LRS a few years ago when I was in junior high, and Lina, my sister, was in senior high. Lina had been suffering from congenital heart disease, and she wasn't able to participate in phys ed classes and many normal activities. A surgical operation could correct the defect, but our family simply couldn't afford it. She was very frustrated, and might have felt fated. As luck would have it, our family learned that LRS could help needy kids have their hearts corrected. That was the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon after, LRS helped Lina have heart surgery in April 2010. The operation was successful, and the recovery went so well that she attended the LRS summer camp in Pingliang, Gansu in August the same year. She used to be a vulnerable kid waiting for help. Now, six years later, she has grown into an energetic teacher helping many other kids. To fulfill her contribution, she volunteered for the LRS Lanzhou summer camp this August. Her passion influenced me to volunteer for the Lanzhou marathon, and also to help out in the summer camp. At the summer camp, LRS found out that I was a university student with great financial difficulties, and they gave me a tuition subsidy of $300 USD. LRS helped my sister and brought her new life. And that removed my parents' anxiety. Now LRS has helped me financially for my studies. We are more grateful than spoken words can tell. Since I'm at school in Lanzhou city, I'll find spare time to join the LRS volunteers' team. I wish to practically help kids suffering from congenital heart defects. Original article translated by Kai Chao, and edited by Yanyan Zhang and Carolyn D. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. We provide financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, we provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle Update October 2016: Chinese Medicine TreatmentOur Little Red Scarf staff Guanying recently talked with Xiao Jun’s father. Since the chemotherapy was not effective, and the hospital can't do anything to help, Xiao Jun has been at home and taking Chinese medicine 3 times a day. His energy level is better now than when he was in the hospital, and he has a pretty good appetite. Xiao Jun’s father isn’t able to go out to work because every few days he has to take Xiao Jun to the Chinese medicine doctor. The family’s debt is already more than 20,000 RMB ($3,000 USD). The Chinese medicine is also estimated to cost about 50,000 RMB ($7,400 USD). Their home is relatively far from the school, and Xiao Jun can’t attend school because he can’t walk that far. Also, he wouldn’t be able to take his Chinese medicine if he went to school. Over the summer we gave Xiao Jun’s family 13,000 RMB (about $2,000 USD). Thanks to our donor PSD, we can give them another $500 USD to help with Xiao Jun’s treatment. Update September 2016: No Chance for SurgerySadly, the results from Xiao Jun’s hospital exams at the end of July and beginning of August were not favorable. The pre-surgery exams showed that the lesions in Xiao Jun’s body have already spread to his lungs. This means that there is no chance for him to have surgery. Although Xiao Jun underwent chemotherapy treatment, the results were not ideal. The family spent about 20,000 RMB ($3,000 USD) on the pre-surgery examinations.
The doctors encouraged the family to let Xiao Jun go home. Xiao Jun’s father informed us about the situation and that he would be taking Xiao Jun home. They can treat him with Chinese medicine to make him more comfortable and improve his quality of life for the time being. However, there is nothing else they can do except let him spend each day as happily as he can. |
TFISH FUND BLOGWe update news and reports directly from the field written by our NGO partners daily. Top PostsPHOTOS & VIDEOSIN THE NEWSCategories
All
Archives
August 2017
|