Hemophilia Home: The Story of Jin Peng

Hemophilia Home is a nonprofit established to improve the quality of life for patients with hemophilia by collecting knowledge on hemophilia and assisting poor patients.

We are a happy family of 6, but we are also filled with anxiety. Since my son has been diagnosed with hemophilia, we always fear he will bump against something. 

When my son, Jin Peng, was 9 months old, we found some bruises on his back, arms and legs. We didn't pay special attention to it at the beginning. Some of the bruises came and went, but when some didn't go away, we began to worry and took him to see a doctor at a local hospital. After the examination, the doctor suggested that we take Jin Peng to a hospital in Beijing for more tests. We went to Beijing next day and saw a doctor at the Children’s Hospital. After two rounds of examination, the doctor referred us to another hospital for further testing. At this hospital, our son was diagnosed as hemophilia. Whenever he bleeds, he needs to inject something called a factor VIII.

---

In August, 2009, the Jin Peng's right knee began to swell up. We asked him to lie in bed. Once he felt a little better, he move around a bit and the knee swelled up again. Just then, my husband got into a car accident and was admitted to a hospital for almost a month. In November, the swelling became larger and he could not even put his right leg on the ground. I had to ask my relative to take my son to hospital and the doctor said his knee had been bleeding for some time and the treatment required about 20,000RMB. We could not afford it, so we had to borrow money from our relatives and friends. Both Jin Peng and his father were lying in bed, and I felt desperate. Fortunately, the child recovered day by day with the treatment of the doctor; and with the birth of my daughter, smiles returned to the family again. 

My husband has recovered and is able to do some temporary work. Our family needs more money to sustain Jin Peng's supply of factor VIII. His right arm and right leg can barely bend. Although my husband cannot earn much money and we have much debt, we feel much relieved seeing that Jin Peng can go to school and take care of himself. We need more money to buy factor VIII and we will continue to work hard in the future.  

Original article was written by Zheng Liu, translated by Maggie Li, and edited by Yanyan Zhang