Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu and Yunnan provinces and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.
Rong Zhi is a 7-year-old girl of the Yi ethnic minority group. We were fortunate that her parents can speak Mandarin. They acted as my translator when I talked with Jianhong’s mother. Thanks to them, my communication with Jianhong’s mother went smoothly. Rong Zhi and her parents arrived in Kunming in the evening. At that time, it was raining in Kunming, and the temperature had dropped. The family of 3 walked for about half an hour to get to the hospital. It was late at night when they finally arrived. When they submitted their paperwork, they were sent to another sector. The long drive made Rong Zhi homesick. When I visited them the next day, they were checking in. When the doctor asked Rong Zhi's mother how much money they had brought with them, she said, “1,000 RMB ($150 USD),” which surprised the doctor. The mother explained that the amount was for daily expenses. The doctor wrote some notes and said they would check in at 2:00 pm. It was the doctor’s first time to be in such a situation. According to the regulations, the patient has to pay part of the deposit before they check in. Fortunately, Rong Zhi successfully checked in that afternoon. Rong Zhi is pretty, and she was curious about the new environment and me. She was not doing very well, and her face was yellow. She kept quiet when I was talking to her mother. 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 was shocked by Xiao Cui's weakness when I first saw her in the hospital ward. She looked like a 12-year-old girl, but she was actually 19. Xiao Cui lives in Lincang county in Yunnan province. She is of the Wa ethnic minority group and has dark skin. She took the night bus to Kunming with her mother, which took more than 10 hours. After such a long bus ride, both of them seemed weary. Xiao Cui said her mother does not know Mandarin, nor is she literate, so she seldom went out. She experienced motion sickness, but at least they arrived in Kunming. Their family is a single parent one. Xiao Cui's father died when she was quite young. Her mother has been taking care of the whole family. They have over an acre and a half of fields, which they planted with tea and a little tobacco and corn. They earned about 4,000 RMB ($600 USD) from the fields last year. With government subsidies, they earn a total of about 7,775 RMB ($1,200 USD) a year. Xiao Cui was diagnosed with congenital heart disease when she was in 9th grade, but they could not afford to do any treatment. Xiao Cui said her mother works very hard. They even paid back the debt owed before her father’s death. Life has been hard for them. Her mother borrowed 20,000 RMB ($3,000 USD) for her operation. Debt has made their life even harder. I looked at her mother, who seemed unyielding. I asked Xiao Cui about her mother, and she told me her mother has a big temper, but they had been getting along well. I knew it was not easy for a woman to sustain the family. As you can tell from the photo, the family lives in a shabby wood cabin. Her mother was smoking like a man. Xiao Cui has 2 older sisters. The 4 of them are all like sisters. Xiao Cui said her mother had serious stomach problems and gynecological diseases. She was too sick to do field work, so they had to rent out their tea fields for about 1,000 RMB ($150 USD) a year to someone else. Her mother did some temp work but their income was still unstable. They had to rely on their relatives for support. The family could not afford for her mother to have a check up in the hospital, so they had to rely on witchcraft to treat her mother’s illness. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu and Yunnan provinces and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle. Ruyi, 10, comes from a rural village in Honghe prefecture of Yunnan province. When you hear the name Ruyi, you would probably imagine a child who is a lovely cute girl. Actually, Ruyi is a naughty boy. When he was 2.5 years old, he was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. His father was disabled and could not do field work. The whole family relies on his grandfather’s pension of about 1,000 RMB per month ($150 USD) and minimum life allowance paid by the government to his father. Ruyi’s illness created an even more difficult situation for the family. As a result, his mother left the family, leaving Ruyi and his sister behind. His older sister dropped out of school due to poverty. When I met Ruyi in the hospital, he was shy. When he told me he was 10, I was surprised, since he was thin and short, smaller than his peers. He told me he came alone from the village and found his aunt who is working in Kunming. I praised him for that. He said he had gotten used to being independent. His aunt said he had been taking care of himself since he was quite young. His father is handicapped, so he had to come on his own. After his mother left, he was living with his grandmother. Then his grandmother died. His aunt had been trying her best to seek treatment for Ruyi. Two years ago, he had an operation in a hospital in Kunming, but he was not healed. Last year, they applied for support from Red Cross but received no reply. When they were feeling desperate, they received the call from LRS, telling them Ruyi could be supported for an operation. Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu and Yunnan provinces and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle. I saw a young father carrying a child in his arms, pacing worriedly in the hospital. Anxiety and fatigue were evident on his face. Zhiyan's family of four lives in a small mountainous village in Kangle County. Although they are not rich, they should have been able to live simply but happily. Unfortunately, life for little Zhiyan is not so happy.
The family owns just 10 mu (about 1.5 acres) of mountainous land, on which they can only plant some soybeans, wheat, and potatoes. The annual harvest is barely enough to feed and clothe the family. The family’s only property consists of 3 one-story houses made from mud bricks. I first met Jinhui in the demonstration room in Lanzhou University's First Hospital. He was standing shyly behind his father and older cousin, taking in the foreign surroundings and looking lost. When the little guy stepped before me, I could easily tell that his lips did not have a healthy hue. I asked Jinhui’s father how old the child was and if his lips were always this color. Jinhui’s father cautiously told me that the child is six years old and has always had lips like this, sometimes every more purple than today. Clearly, I knew from his response that this father has known for a few years that his child has congenital heart disease.
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Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu and Yunnan provinces and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle. Li Hong is a 5-year-old girl. She lives in a remote village in Gansu province. Li Hong’s family still shares a house with her uncle, so there are 10 relatives living under one roof. One room is for Li Hong’s family, one is for her uncle’s family, and one is for her grandparents. When Li Hong was 5 months old, her mother found her out of breath when she was sleeping. Her lips and nails were blue. She was able to walk when she was 1.5 years old but she could barely run. Her mother felt something must have been wrong with her. The village doctor told her mother that her heart had a murmur. She had to have an operation in the city’s hospital. Last year, her parents went to work in a light factory in a southern city, leaving Li Hong to her uncle and grandparents. After a year, they came back with 30,000 RMB. They were going to take Li Hong to the hospital for the operation. Her situation became serous. She is young and recovery would be slow after the operation. The doctor estimated the operation expenses would be 60,000 RMB. Her parents were frustrated. With the help of the doctor, they called Little Red Scarf. A new 2016 government policy has removed all government funding for basic congenital heart surgery in Gansu. Government policies changes every year when the leaders change every March. This leaves us as the primary sponsor for poor families needing financial aid for CHD surgery. Last year, our average was to sponsor about two to four children a month because the government covered simple cases. This year, we already have 14 children currently in the hospital. We're back to the number of children we usually have in the past years.
Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu and Yunnan province and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle. Dear Mr. PC, I am Li Fangdi’s daughter, Jin Nana. My mother has been in poor health. She was diagnosed heart disease in 2013. She was too weak to stand at that time. The county hospital suggested we refer her to a bigger hospital in the city. I was at school and my father was in poor health, too. The costs in hospital relied on my uncle and relatives. My mom is lucky. She received the operation with the support of LRS. Now she became better and could do some fieldwork as dig potatoes, move corns or cook. I went to an electronic manufactory in Tianjin last year. My parents are in poor health, so I sent home about 2000RMB per month. I always cautious about money. My father has stomach problem. My brother is in secondary school and he can do nothing to help the family. All work of the family has to rely on my parents. I really want to thank Mr. PC, who donated money for my parents for medicines. My parents are illiterates. They want to say thank you, but they did not know how to express. On behalf of my parents, I would like to thank Mr. PC. Thank you so much. This is the thank-you letter sent by Fangdi’s daughter. Ping Ping is 26 and a mother of 2 children. She was born with her right eye blind, and she has been suffering from congenital heart disease. In January 2016 she underwent heart surgery. However, during the recovery period her body went into distress. Fortunately she was successfully resuscitated. Her rural family is unable to pay the high medical bills for the surgery. Will you join us to help them with this financial burden?
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