LRS Care: Follow Up Report-Maimai family

Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu 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.

​Maimai is a congenital heart disease child and in April 2011, with the help of Little Red Scarf, successfully completed the operation. Unfortunately, her mother also suffers from congenital heart disease. Because they missed the best timing of surgery it caused severe Pulmonary hypertension, leading to heart failure. This led to a serious problem in walking and hemoptysis. Medicine for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension is costly. Local doctors know that buyers are poor and can only afford cheap medicine. The doctor said: "The medicine is too expensive to treat this disease, so you can not afford it."

In 2015, Mother's Day, Little Red Scarf’s US team raised money to help the family: Ellen Yuan $ 500, Henry & Lisa $ 800, Grandma Chu Fund $ 1050, RY $ 50, total $ 2,400 , Equivalent to 15,000 RMB. In 2016, DC donated $ 480 dollars, equivalent to 3,120 RMB, which continued to cover the cost of Maimai's mother's treatment.

In 2015, we visited Maimai's family and sent donations

In 2017, LRS continues to support Maimai and her family

We donated the money in three parts. In April 2015, we visited their family. The mother often needs to be hospitalized due to the serious illness. She cannot move or work. She thinks that she’s better dead than alive. We encouraged the mother to continue fighting. Her children are small and still need her. We must let them feel the warmth of home, and we also sent the 2,000 RMB subsidy to buy the cost of the hospitalization for the mother.  

In August 2015, Mai’s mother heard about the recent rapid development in medicine and perhaps even their own surgical opportunities. On August 12, we got Mai’s mother a free review with Dr. Tang and the University of Cardiology. When Dr. Tang saw the results of the final ultrasound, he regretfully said, “your body has not allowed you to surgery” and recommends “ to ease the symptoms of chest tightness and shortness of breath and, of course, to always see if there will be a change so she can do surgery. She should not give up just because of the results.” She replied, “I have to remain strong for my two children.”

Little Red Scarf bought Mai’s mother a portable oxygen machine and the treatment of pulmonary hypertension medicine, costed 3015.5 RMB.

The rental house is not large, but it is big enough for the mother and daughters to live happily

The items bought helped lower pulmonary arterial hypertension; with each visit on the phone Mai’s mother brings us news of joy and trouble at home. In winter, her condition will worsen with severe coughs that are sometimes accompanied by blood. Her chest tightness was severe, but is now much better with the oxygen machine and medicine.

Mai’s father and mother are illiterate and the village school is not easy to walk to. In order to allow the two children to learn more knowledge, the parents transferred their two children to the county and rented a house near the school. The mother usually takes care of the children while the father is out working. The oldest daughter is in the third grade and began to learn English; at night, the children will not do their homework, making their mother anxious. We asked to Mai’s mother to buy more oxygen machines several times a day; she said: "they are uncomfortable to used and wastes electricity. I would rather send the money back home or on trips to see the doctor. The two children have to spend money and it’s expensive living in the city”. The father said, “I cannot feed you three”.
 
At the end of January 2016, Mai’s mother finished all her medicine and had to go back to the hospital to get more. We found that she has difficulty in walking and needs to rest every dozen steps. The hospital once again gave her a free review; the doctor said that the mother's condition is not optimistic and to adhere to medication and regular oxygen. This time we bought the mother six months of medicine (2080 RMB), bought the children a learning machine (1400 RMB), and the remaining 6505 RMB will be used in 2016 for rent subsidies and hospitalization fees. This time, a total of 9985 RMB was spent.

​The rental housing near the school costs 3,000 RMB a year. The house inside the area is not large, but the mother and daughters are living in that space, eating, sleeping, and studying.
 
After returning home, the two daughters do homework by the bedside. When they encounter a word they cannot read, they used the learning machine.

The stubborn pulmonary hypertension continues to haunt the mother to this day. Every time we call back, she will always talk to us about the family's emotions and development. We also encourage her to have confidence, adhere to treatment, and overcome the disease. She is also very grateful to the Little Red Scarf and the people in the United States for their help and helping her children grow. 

Original article written by Guan Ying, translated by Nina Chen, edited by Yanyan Zhang ​​​