One Surgery
One Life. YUER悦儿
H ere was Yuer on
September 21, 2010,
riding piggyback on his
grandmother in the hospital.
He’s extremely kind and
well-behaved, and he greets
visitors cheerily. He clearly
brings a lot of joy to his
mother and grandmother,
who have come with him
all the way from a village in
Yuzhong, about two hours
away from Lanzhou, for his
surgery.
A few days after his
surgery, on September
27, I sit down to talk to
his grandmother, who is
nursing Yuer as he recovers.
I find out that Yuer hasn’t
started school yet; he is
still too young. Back home,
Yuer’s mother, paternal
grandmother, and paternal
Thank you
Ken Khoa Bui
grandmother all farm.
Child Nickname:
Their fields produce millet.
Yuer 悦儿 (#154)
Though they are too poor
to afford livestock, they do Birthday:
have a little dog at home January 31, 2006
that Yuer loves to play with.
Yuer also misses his 3-year- project page:
old little brother, who is at www.dongcunzu.org/project/446/
home along with the paternal
grandfather. Date of Hospitalization:
The successful Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, 2010
treatment of Yuer’s
Cost of Surgery:
congenital heart defect
13,941.1 元
means a lot to Yuer’s
grandmother, especially sponsorship amount:
since the family has already 9,000 元
lost one member to the
disease. Unfortunately, Little Red Scarf Alliance
YUER 悦儿 (154)
Back on their farm, however, and stunting his growth and
life was still not easy. The development. At 13 kg, he
harvest from the family’s was much below the normal
0.65 acres of farmland is weight for a boy of 4 years
not enough to provide for and 8 months.
the family’s rations for Thanks to your
the year. But because the sponsorship, Yuer received
grandparents suffer from surgery for his heart defect
old age, they can’t work to on September 23, 2010. The
earn extra income. On top surgeons at the Lanzhou
of that, the grandmother Military District General
suffers from cholecystitis Hospital closed the open
(gallbladder attack), enteritis connection between the
(inflammation of the small pulmonary artery and aorta.
intestine), and heart disease After a eight-day recovery
-- every year her medical care in the hospital, with the
costs more than 3000 yuan. support of his family, the
Yuer’s father also had
For this family, treatment for doctors, nurses, and the
congenital heart disease
Yuer’s disease seemed far staff of Little Red Scarf, Yuer
-- soon after the father’s
out of reach. was back on his feet and
surgery in 2008, he died
Yuer suffered from a ready to go home. His family
within ten days afterward.
patent ductus arteriosus -- still bearing the weight of
Tears come to Yuer’s
(PDA), which means that the Yuer’s father’s death and
grandmother’s eyes as she
fetal connection between the burden of daily survival
thinks about Yuer’s father.
the pulmonary artery and -- was overjoyed. Thanks to
The 100,000 yuan for the
the aorta failed to close up. your help, Yuer can enjoy
futile treatment of the father
This connection is necessary a normal childhood with a
was all borrowed, and it still
for the fetus while it is in healthy, working heart --
has not been paid back. The
the womb, because it allows truly a gift that will last a
family could hardly bear the
blood oxygenated by the lifetime.
burden when they found that
mother’s placenta to
Yuer also had congenital
bypass the unused lungs
heart disease -- was it not
and go straight to the
enough for Yuer’s grandma
rest of the body. After
to lose her son? Would she
birth, however, this
lose her grandson too?
connection has to seal
That was not the end
up as the fetus starts
of their worries. Yuer’s
using its lungs. When it
mother later remarried,
doesn’t, already oxygen-
but the new stepfather
rich blood floods into
kept beating Yuer and his
the lungs, causing
mother. Unable to bear the
them to be inefficient
beatings, Yuer’s mother
in oxygenating the
ran away with him back to
bloodstream. This was
the dead father’s parents.
depriving Yuer of energy
Little Red Scarf Alliance
email: info@xiaohongjin.org
website: www.littleredscarf.org

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