Her words just made us die a little inside.
Recently, a standard one girl with a rare bone disease passed all her savings in coins to her father because she wanted to give up treatment in order to save her baby sister who was diagnosed with the same disease. This heart-wrenching story took place in Henan, China.
According to China Press, the 7-year-old girl named Wang Yue was diagnosed with Osteopetrosis, which is a life-threatening disease where bones get overly dense throughout the body.
The symptoms include fractures, low blood cell production and loss of cranial nerve function, which ultimately lead to blindness, deafness and facial nerve paralysis.
Wang Yue’s condition is getting worse by the day and she might die anytime. However, she refused to go through modern medical treatment and only drinks seven bowls of traditional Chinese medicine every day, because she wants to save all the money for her one-year-old baby sister.
Wang Yue who is now studying in standard one had earlier noticed that her vision became blurry and it was hard to read books.
The good news is that her parents have successfully found compatible bone marrow and the donor is going through a medical check-up. They also planned for both their children to undergo the bone marrow transplant.
Sadly, the surgical fee for one child is 500,000 yuan (approx. RM320,000), and that’s before taking into account the post-surgery treatment fee. The father had already emptied his bank account for earlier treatments.
After done borrowing money from friends and families, the father only managed to amass under 200,000 yuan (approx. RM127,500). Realising that only one of them will have the chance to make it to the operating theatre, Wang Yue told her father,
“Since we can’t manage to borrow so much money, I will give up on the treatment then. I have some savings here, combine it with the money you borrowed to save my sister,” she said.
“I’m big already, it doesn’t matter if I don’t undergo the treatment. Here’s some money that I’ve saved up, please take it,” she added while handing over her coins to her father.
Her father extended his shaky hands to receive the coins while tears welled up in his eyes.
This heart-breaking news received nationwide attention and a fund-raising effort has been set up. Here’s the link where you can donate money to save these two poor sisters and realise their dreams of growing up together.
We certainly hope that sufficient funds can be amassed in time for them to undergo the bone marrow transplant, since Wang Yue is in such a critical condition.
Also read: Malaysian Student Dies Waiting for Organ Transplant Because He Couldn’t Afford Surgery