Girl, 10, gives all to save baby brother

By Cai Wenjun | April 21, 2009, Tuesday |

Print Edition

TEN-YEAR-OLD Jiang Yuelan paints pictures as gifts for anyone who contributes to the cost of the stem-cell transplant her brother needs.

But her greatest gift, once the family from a small village in southwestern China's Guizhou Province raises enough money, will be her own stem cells. Doctors have found that she is a perfect match for four-year-old Jiang Shubao, who suffers from aplastic anemia, a condition where bone marrow can't produce enough new blood cells. They say a transplant would have an 80 to 90 percent chance of success.

But the family, who earns 1,000 yuan (US$146) a month, is still 50,000 yuan short to pay for the 100,000 yuan transplant, even though the Shanghai Children's Medical Center has halved the cost by using cheaper medication and applying for charity support.

Currently, Jiang receives a blood transfusion once a week to stabilize his condition.

"Only a stem-cell transplant can cure the disease and the earlier the better," Dr Chen Jing said. "Blood transfusions can control the disease but too many transfusions can affect his immunity and the efficacy of transplant."

Jiang was diagnosed last summer and the family took him to the medical center in October. "We only have 50,000 yuan savings," said his mother Zhou Lianying. "The weekly cost of blood transfusions is 2,300 yuan. I don't want to use up the savings on blood transfusions."

Health and Science

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Girl, 10, gives all to save baby brother

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