One Surgery
One Life. little HAO 小浩 she can only work as a coolie at construction
Q uiet and unassuming, Little Hao is
extremely well-behaved. When he
speaks, he talks in a squeaky whisper, never
raising his voice. When Yoyo Jie, one of the
Little Red Scarf staff, comes to visit, Little
Hao is fascinated by her namecard, asking
her silently to take it off. He takes it gently
and analyzes it, carefully handing it back
when done.
Little Hao was three months old when
his illness was discovered. Because his family
couldn't save enough money for the surgery
fee, his surgery has been delayed until now.
Little Hao's grandfather has schizophrenia,
his mother is an orphan and is illiterate, and
his father has a prolapsed lumbar disc so he
cannot do heavy labor.
"Tian Tian" is the nickname his family
uses for Little Hao. Their acre of farmland,
in a village in Jingtai about two hours from
Lanzhou, doesn't have enough arable area.
Consequently, both parents as well as both
paternal grandparents must go out to the
city to find work -- mainly odd jobs, such
as working in a restaurant or whatever they
can find. Little Hao's mother is illiterate, so
sites. Because everyone has to work, Little
Hao stays in a nursery all week. His parents
visit him once a week, taking him back home
for the weekend. Then at the beginning the
week, they bring him back to the nursery.
Physically, Little Hao looks very skinny.
Instead of a normal, distinct heartbeat,
Little Hao's heart sounds like an indistinct
whooshing through the stethoscope. The
emphasis of the beat is also abnormal -- it
sounds like a "waaaaka waaaaka" instead of a
normal "lub dub, lub dub." His resting heart
rate is 100 bpm.
In fact, Little Hao has an ventricular
septal defect (VSD), a hole between the two
larger chambers in his heart. Because of this
hole, oxygenated blood from the left side of
his heart leaks into the right side of his heart
with every beat. As a result, his heart pumps
less effectively than it should. Little Hao also
has a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), which
means that the fetal connection between
the pulmonary artery and the aorta failed to
close up. As a result, blood already charged
with oxygen floods into the lungs, causing
them to be inefficient in oxygenating the rest
of the blood.
Together, these conditions have led to
pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), with
its host of problems including the risk of
heart failure. These conditions also deprive
Little Hao of energy and stunts his growth
and development.
Luckily, children can catch up. Thanks
Thank you
Syntest technologies, Inc.
(Dr. & Mrs. Wang)
Child Nickname: Birthday:
Little Hao 小浩 (#156) December 2, 2007
project page: Cost of Surgery:
www.dongcunzu.org/
21,958 元
project/444/
Date of Hospitalization: sponsorship amt:
Sept. 19 to Oct. 5, 2010 10,000 元
Little Red Scarf Alliance
LITTLE HAO 小浩 (156)

to your sponsorship, Little

Hao received surgery for his
heart defect on September
28, 2010. The surgeons at
the Lanzhou Military District
General Hospital closed up
the defects in his heart. After
a seven-day recovery in the
hospital, with the support
of his family, the doctors,
nurses, and the staff of Little
Red Scarf, Little Hao was
ready to go home. Thanks
to your help, Little Hao can
enjoy a normal childhood
with a healthy, working heart
-- truly a gift that will last a
lifetime.
Little Red Scarf Alliance
email: info@xiaohongjin.org
website: www.littleredscarf.org

Little Red Scarf, USA Office

800 High Street, Suite 408
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 924-1104