LRS: Story of Ruirui

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.

Ruirui lives in a small village of Gansu province. The whole family of 8 makes living from a few acres of fields. Her eldest sister got married and his brother married in 2008, who had to take the burden of the family. The family owed about 20,000yuan of debts. Her brother is the only labor worker of the family. Her father were not able to do any manual work since he fell down from a building roof. Her mother has poor eyesight and back problem, so she can do nothing manual. Her brother hurt very seriously when fell down from a construction site. Her cranial nerves got serious hurt. 

Ruirui’s elder sister raised her. Speaking of Ruirui, her sister could not help weeping. When Ruirui was adopted when she was 9 months. She was so skinny and the family itself was in desperate situation, but they still gave the best to the baby. Due to some congenital illnesses, she had not been able to walk until 4 years old. She went to grade 1 when she was 8 and grade 6 in 19.

Ruirui's face was always purple

Due to her health situation, Ruirui was not able to receive surgery. She was ready and happy to go home

After taking oxygen, Ruirui felt better

Picture of Ruirui with her brother and sister

Ruirui is very quiet for the most of time. When we visited her, she kept closing her eyes. It seemed the world has nothing to do with her. During we were talking with her sister, she would open her eyes a little and told us something that her sister had missed. We tried to talk with her, but she closed her eyes again. 

With a few contacts, Ruirui began to trust us and started to tell us her experiences. She still remembered she felt quite tired when walking a little distance. According to her memory, she began to learn things when she was 14. Since then, she had learned she was an abandoned baby. She refused to play with other children. She seldom communicate with other family members. 

We told her she is the same as other people and encouraged her to face the life bravely and optimistic. Everyone has his or her value and do not mind about gossips. We told her she is own self and she would prove herself with actions. 

When we saw her in hospital again, we found she changed a lot. She began to greet us with bright smiles. She also made friends in hospital. 

Her brother prepared 30,000yuan and examinations before the surgery had spent a lot of them. The hospital introduced her to seek help from us. When her brother went back home to collect paper work, the fire destroyed everything, which made the situation of the family even worse. 

Little Red Scarf will stand together with Ruirui and her family. We hope Ruirui will get a healthy heart. 

Original Article Written by Li Wang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang