LRS Care: Xiao Jun

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 Jun and his family thanked LRS and donors

Update October 2016: Chinese Medicine Treatment

​Our 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).
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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. 
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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.

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Update September 2016: No Chance for Surgery

Sadly, 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. 
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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.

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Update Summer 2016: Fourth Chemo Treatment

Xiao Jun likes to help the family take care of the wheat.

In early July 2016, Xiao Jun went to Xi’an’s Children Hospital for his fourth chemotherapy treatment before his bone marrow cancer surgery. However, the chemotherapy was not successful and left him with an infection. This time, the chemotherapy fees were about 70,000 RMB ($10,500 USD). After the treatment, Xiao Jun went home with his parents. The doctors told him that he would have to wait another month before they could decide if he can undergo surgery.

By mid-July, the Zhang family’s wheat had become ripe. After Xiao Jun became sick, his father was not able to leave the house to find jobs. The six acres of wheat fields became the family of seven’s only source of income. Due to recent droughts, the profit on the wheat fields has not been too good. Their six acres of land yields about 3,000 pounds of wheat. They have to use a significant amount of that profit to buy the next year’s fertilizers and pesticides, leaving them with barely enough rations for the whole family.     

After harvesting the wheat, Xiao Jun’s father has been looking around for ways to obtain money for Xiao Jun’s next treatment. The mother and the children are left at home to tend to the wheat. After returning home, Xiao Jun began to be more himself than when he was in the hospital. He also helps the family take care of the wheat. Even in the scorching sun he has to wear thick masks to protect his fragile body.

On July 21st, Xiao Jun's father received Little Red Scarf’s donation of 13,000 RMB ($1,950 USD) for Xiao Jun’s surgery. On that day, Xiao Jun entered the hospital for the fifth time. This time he underwent an examination that would foretell whether he could have surgery or not.           

We saw Xiao Jun's father swipe his card to pay the hospital fees. He used not only the 13,000 RMB Little Red Scarf gave him, but he also used everything their family had as well. Xiao Jun’s father says: “I am very grateful. Little Red Scarf is our family’s savior. Thank you for helping both of my children.” Xiao Jun will be under examination these next two days. We hope that his results will show that he can finally be ridden of his disease and live happily just like his brother!

Xiao Ma and Xiao Jun are good brothers

LRS transferred money to Xiao Jun father's bank account

Original article written by Guan Ying, translated by Nina Chen, and edited by Yanyan Zhang and Carolyn D.