FangFang is a 2-year-old boy born with retinoblastoma (eye cancer). When he came to the Special Care Nursery at the China Care Home last August, his left eye was atrophied, which required removal, but we were hoping the right eye could be saved.

Unfortunately, doctors found that the cancer cells had metastasized to the optic nerves so FangFang had to lose both eyes. After the surgeries, FangFang also needed six rounds of chemotherapy.

For the past six months, FangFang has spent half that time in hospital. During his hospitalizations, FangFang’s China Care nannies continued to look after him. FangFang only drank milk and refused to eat any solid food even when his nannies fed him spoonful by spoonful. He would spit out the food in his mouth.

Our nannies tried different ways to help him learn to eat. First they fed him milk with a spoon. At the beginning, FangFang didn’t know there was milk in the spoon so he refused to open his mouth. But when he realized it was his familiar food, he began to try the milk. In this way, he gradually got familiar with the spoon. Then our nannies put different food in the spoon and persuaded him to taste it. Feeding him took a long time, but he finally learned to eat solid food. Now his favorite food is dessert!

FangFang used to sleep during the day and play at night. We created a schedule to help him get to sleep at a reasonable hour.  Wake at 6 a.m., nap at 12:30 p.m., and sleep at 9 p.m. During the day, the nannies played with him and didn’t let him stay in bed. Because he didn’t sleep much during the day, he slept at night. Now, he knows when to eat, play and sleep.

FangFang is lucky to have so many nannies caring for him around the clock. With their help, he can say some simple words like “mama” and “grandpa.” Sometimes, he hums a song “Ocean… Ocean.” When the nannies call his name, he gradually moves his body toward the direction of the sound.

As of April, FangFang has completed chemotherapy and has since been discharged from the Special Care Nursery. Though he can’t see the world, we know he can feel the love from people around him.

FangFang

FangFang after treatment

HuiJun came to the Special Care Nursery at the China Care Home in Beijing last year as a 1-year-old little girl who was born with a cleft lip and palate, a deformation in her left hand, and no right arm. In just 10 months, HuiJun underwent three surgeries.

Her first surgery was to repair her cleft lip. After HuiJun was discharged from the hospital, she recuperated quickly under the loving eye of her foster mom.

HuiJun didn’t let her disabilities hold her back. Because of her hand deformity, she practiced using her toes a lot. When her foster mom put a toy in front of her, she moved her body towards it and then used her foot to reach for the toy. Her foster mom encouraged her to keep trying until she could pick the toy up with her toes.

HuiJun would use her left arm to support herself and became very adept at crawling on her left side, which soon led to walking. Though balancing was difficult at the beginning, with persistent practice she learned to walk a few steps on her own.

Six months after her first surgery, HuiJun had surgery on her hand so that she could finally move her thumb and little finger separately. After she healed, her foster mom helped her practice lifting or pinching small objects. We were all so proud of the progress she made.  HuiJun’s final surgery in April was to repair her cleft palate.

Every time HuiJin would return to the Special Care Nursery from the hospital she would be thrilled to see her foster mom, holding on to her tightly and crying when other people held her.

Now, nearly a year after she arrived, HuiJun can use her fingers to reach for the cookies in her foster mom’s hand and eat them.  Sometimes she uses both her hands and feet to accomplish tasks.She can say and understand a few words, such as “come here,” “eye,”“ear” and “kiss.” We are all so happy that HuiJin has become such a healthy, happy little girl.

HuiJun today

At the end of last year, when she was 6 months old, tiny YeWen arrived at the Special Care Nursery from the Chuzhou Welfare Institution struggling for every breath she took. She had complex congenital heart defects: Tetralogy of Fallor (four heart defects that affect the heart's structure), a hole between the upper two chambers of her heart, and lung complications as well. These conditions left her with a heart murmur and a blue pallor from lack of oxygen-- when she arrived, her doctors discovered that her body oxygen concentration was only 34 percent.

YeWen was immediately placed on oxygen. Our nannies were told to keep her warm and to feed her small amounts of food frequently to ensure that she received enough nutrition. YeWen's poor lung functions meant that the nurse had to use a suction catheter to suck out phlegm when she coughed. She also suffered from edema and labored breathing.

Our nannies worked extra hard to care for YeWen, holding her constantly and feeding her patiently. Despite the extra care, YeWen contracted chicken pox two weeks after she arrived. She became extremely weak, and we even prepared ourselves mentally to lose her. But no one gave up, and YeWen, our tiny fighter, pulled through. A few months ago, we took YeWen to see a famous cardiologist.

After a series of checkups, the cardiologist expressed confidence that YeWen could get better after heart surgery. The surgery was a success! After a week in the ICU, YeWen was discharged from the hospital. We were all thrilled to welcome her back and see her pink lips, a sign that her oxygen levels were finally normal.

Happily, YeWen's condition has remained stable since her surgery. She takes heart medication every day and eats and sleeps well--her improved health is obvious. She gets excited when she sees the bottle in the nanny’s hands and begins to wave her arms. When lying on her back, she also kicks her legs or plays with her hands.

We will continue taking good care of YeWen so her heart can make a full recovery and she can live a long and healthy life.

With the help of Global Giving donors and other generous supporters, we have been able to establish and operate a Special Care Nursery at The China Care Home in Beijing.  We are so grateful to our generous Global Giving donors for helping make this dream for the children come true.

Over the last year, your donations have helped improve the lives of many children, including YiNa, a 10-month-old baby girl fully recovered from heart surgery; ZhuangWei, a now happy toddler who endured grueling chemotherapy for retinoblastoma with his loving nanny by his side; and NiNi, a happy infant girl expected to fully recover from spina bifida, Chiari malformation, and hydrocephalus surgeries. 

To continue our work, we are asking for donations to help defray the cost for the Special Care’s Nursery for the next two years.  We are confident that with your help we will be able to continue to provide specialized and often lifesaving medical treatment and nurturing for fragile infants like SiYu.

When SiYu first came to The China Care Home, she was less than one month old and weighed only 2.5 kg. Tiny SiYu was carefully nurtured at our Special Care Nursery until she was big enough to have surgery to repair her cleft lip. After recuperating for a month at the Special Care Nursery, SiYu went back to the Baotou Social Welfare Institution where she was enrolled in Half the Sky’s Infant Nurture Program. With the patient care of her trained Half the Sky nanny, SiYu became stronger.  When her doctors said she was ready, she returned to The China Care Home for surgery to repair her cleft palate. 

SiYu is at The China Care Home and recovering well for her second surgery. She has grown up to be a beautiful girl. She can walk slowly by herself and speak some simple words. She has curly hair and looks like a doll. What she likes most is looking into the mirror. She shakes her head or makes faces in front of the mirror and observes her reflection carefully.

When SiYu hears music, she can’t help making some dancing movements like stretching her arms, waving her hands, or shaking her head. All the nannies in the room love to watch her dancing and listen to her happy laughter, but when she notices others paying attention she gets embarrassed and covers her face with her hands.

Thanks to the love and medical care she received, SiYu is now a healthy and happy girl!

Links:

• About the China Care Program at Half the Sky

YiNa was a 7-month-old, tiny, listless baby when she was admitted to The China Care Home. She was immediately taken to the hospital for tests where she was diagnosed with (ventricular septal defect: a 4.4mm hole in her heart). Two days later, she was hospitalized for heart surgery.

The surgery was grueling, but it went well, and YiNa began the long road to recovery. She spent five days in the ICU and another week in the hospital before she returned to The China Care Home.

Under the doting care of The China Care Home's nannies and medical team, YiNa continues her recuperation. Every day, the staff at The China Care Home makes sure that YiNa receives the three kinds of heart medications prescribed by her doctors.

In addition, her nannies play with her and talk to her every day. Slowly YiNa has become stronger. First she started moving her body around on the mat. Then she started grabbing the toys near her, especially the ones that make sounds. Now when YiNa sees the toys on the baby gym, she fiddles with them right away to make sure they make sounds!

Now 8 months old, YiNa's is a smiling, babbling, merry baby, who periodically bursts into joyous laughter. Recently everyone at The China Care Home cheered when YiNa sat up on her own for the first time!

In two months, YiNa will have a full medical checkup, We hope it will confirm what the doctors expect—that YiNa has made  a full recovery and has a normally functioning heart!

Links:

• About The China Care Program at Half the Sky

ZhuangWei is a boy from Jiangsu Province who had retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer that takes a long time to cure and needs several rounds of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is grueling for adults never mind little ZhuangWei, who started treatment when he was only 16 months old.

During one round of chemotherapy, ZhuangWei began to cough, his face turned blue, and red spots appeared on his skin. I recognized the danger and informed the nurse, who came immediately, and stopped chemotherapy. ZhuangWei’s doctor then gave him emergency treatment; after a few minutes, he calmed down. But when he was on the drip again, the same symptoms occurred. This time I stopped the chemotherapy drip right away and informed the nurse and the doctor prescribed an oral dose of anti-allergic medicine, which allowed ZhuangWei to sleep. Later, when he was on the drip for the third time, he had no immediate reaction. I was relieved and watched over ZhuangWei until midnight when his treatment was completely finished.

During ZhuangWei’s second hospitalization, he had surgery to remove his right eyeball. After the surgery, the first moment I saw him crying and with his right eye wrapped in a gauze patch, I just couldn’t control my emotions -- my tears kept falling and I held him in my arms tightly. When ZhuangWei saw me crying, he wiped his tears away and told me with his expression, “I am brave. I won’t cry.”

After the anesthesia wore off, ZhuangWei was in a lot of pain. I held him in my arms, cuddled him, and tried every means to ease his pain and stop his crying. I started thinking how much bad luck he had had and how fortunate it would be if he had a mom to call his own. So I sang his favorite nursery rhyme, “Mama is the best person in the world.” When he heard me singing, he stopped crying and stared at my face. I kept singing it again and again and felt I was truly his mom. ZhuangWei listened carefully and soon he hummed along with me.

ZhuangWei was quite popular in the hospital ward. When his doctors came, he would give them a big smile and greet them. When his nurses came to give him the intravenous injections he hated, he would not smile. But when his nurses dropped by just to say “hi,” he would smile because he knew they weren’t going to give him a shot, and would wave goodbye when they left.

One morning, I took ZhuangWei to buy breakfast in the hospital cafeteria. There were many people lining up for breakfast, but ZhuangWei didn’t understand we had to wait in line. He saw his favorite steamed egg custard and shouted at the waitress, “Mama, mama…” In addition, he pushed people in front of us as if he were telling them, “Let me get the food first. I’m hungry. I want to eat.” The people around him said, “How cute this child is! Don’t let him go hungry. You first, please.” When the waitress gave food to me, ZhuangWei smiled happily at her and others to express his gratitude.

ZhuangWei finished his sixth round of chemotherapy in January and an examination showed that his is cancer-free! ZhuangWei, who turns 2 at the end of April, will need regular examinations to make sure there are no cancer cells, but he is expected to make a full recovery and grow up healthy.

As I got to know ZhuangWei better I was happy to be able to support him better during his treatments. His favorite fruit is banana and I prepared a lot of bananas whenever we went to the hospital--I loved to see him eat bananas. After eating bananas, he felt quite satisfied and kissed me on my cheek. I also was satisfied seeing ZhuangWei eating heartily! For me there is no job more gratifying than providing some comfort for brave, little ZhuangWei.

JiaNi (“NiNi”) is much loved by our staff – no one can resist her chubby and rosy cheeks. We especially treasure her every smile because we all know how much she has had to struggle in her short life.

When NiNi arrived at The China Care Home from Xinjiang Province five months ago, she was a tiny, two-month-old, very sick baby who barely responded to external stimulation. Right from the start we showered her with love, but when her nannies held her in their arms they had to do so gingerly because she was born with spina bifida and had a fluid-filled sac on her spine. NiNi’s nannies took care to avoid pressing or even touching the sac, which was so transparent that it looked as if it were about to leak.

NiNi’s doctors soon discovered that she also had hydrocephalus (excess cerebrospinal fluid accumulating in the head) and Chiari malformation (abnormal formation of the brain where the brain and spine meet). In addition to all of these life-threatening medical conditions, we also discovered when bathing her that she had club feet.

Almost immediately, NiNi had surgery to correct her spina bifida and Chiari malformation, and was discharged from the hospital ten days later. With the help of intensive nurture and care from her nannies, NiNi’s surgical wounds healed quickly, in only 17 days.

Then NiNi went back to the hospital again, this time for surgery for hydrocephalus. That surgery was also successful and NiNi returned again to the Home.

Meanwhile, despite all the medical treatment, NiNi was becoming the happy baby she is today. By the time she was four months old, she had started babbling and communicating with her special nanny. She could play happily by herself as long as her nanny was in her sight. Otherwise, she would cry loudly, with tears streaming down her face. Her nanny would reassure her: “Mama is coming, NiNi. Wait a moment.” Hearing her nanny’s voice and seeing her bottle of milk, NiNi would smile through her tears.

When NiNi came back, her nannies carefully observed her head to watch out for any intracranial infection, especially where her shunt was placed by hersurgeon. Again NiNi proved to be a tough, resilient little baby – she recovered well.

Now NiNi is our staff’s alarm clock. She wakes up exactly at 5:30 AM and loudly shouts “mama,” breaking the silence of the dawn. When she is happy or needs something, she will also call “mama.” Then her nanny holds her in her arms and gives her a kiss.

Whenever NiNi hears music, she stretches out her arms and waves them like the wings of a bird, giggling all the while. NiNi loves to play on the gym mat and especially loves the toy tiger and playing peek-a-boo. She covers her nanny’s face with a handkerchief and then pulls it off. When she sees her nanny’s face, she giggles and then repeats the game over and over. When she feels hungry, she throws away the toys she’s playing with, becomes anxious, and lies down, crying loudly or even kicking hard. She always has a good appetite and sleeps well at night. She has gained some weight.

After NiNi went through her operations, we arranged an examination for her club feet. The doctor recommended that NiNi have tenotomy surgery, a relatively minor procedure given all that she had already endured, and then wear braces for three to six years.

NiNi had the surgery at the end of last year and is now wearing braces. She will have a followup checkup in a few months so doctors can evaluate how she has recovered from the spina bifida, Chiari malformation and hydrocephalus surgeries. Based on her current development and health condition, we believe that our loving and beloved NiNi will recover fully.

Two-year-old YanCun (nickname CunCun), a handsome little boy with dark black, curly hair, is a real delight at the Family Housing Unit in our China Care Home in Beijing. Most toddlers draw back and hide behind their nannies when there are visitors. But CunCun welcomes visitors, allowing anyone to give him a hug or kiss, and he loves to pose when they take pictures. Effortlessly verbal, CunCun will also answer all the visitors' questions: "How old are you?" "Which is your crib?" "What's the name of that child?" "Have you had your breakfast?" When the visitors leave, he blows them a kiss and waves his hand.

Because CunCun has urethral stenosis, he has a catheter and has to carry around a urine bag, but they don't affect his activity level at all. CunCun is agile, walks fast, climbs on the slide in the outdoor playground easily, and never cries when he falls.

However, it is painful for such a small child to get his catheter replaced by a new one every two weeks. Whenever his foster mom, Zhao CaiYin, takes him to the nurse's room, CunCun knows what is waiting for him and wants to run away. CaiYin always stays beside him, holds his hands tightly, encourages him, and tells him to be brave. Seeing CunCun in pain when CunCun goes through the procedure, CaiYin's eyes fill with tears. After the catheter is replaced, CunCun stops crying, holds his mama's hand, and goes back to his room. Because he has spent so much time with his mama day and night for several months, CunCun has established a deep emotional attachment with her, which is crucial for his growth and CaiYun has bonded deeply with him as well. CaiYun, who was unaware that there are so many young children struggling with so many medical conditions before she starting working at the China Care home says she treats the three children in her care "like my own" and is gratified by every tiny developmental milestones she sees; "I have resolved to help these children live a better life."

CunCun is developing by leaps and bounds both physically and emotionally. CunCun likes to help CaiYun do some housework. For example, when the care supervisor stands at the door and distributes daily necessities to the moms, CunCun takes small things like a roll of toilet paper or a bag of formula and puts them away in the correct part of the supply closet.

CunCun can now also feed himself, using a spoon, though sometimes, he gets distracted and begins to play before he finishes. CaiYun patiently reminds him to eat, and if the food turns cold, she reheats it in the microwave. After his meal, when CunCun sees CaiYun squatting to feed another child, he fetches a stool for her. CaiYun praises him explaining: "I am so moved that with all the medical care CunCun has to deal with that he is also so sensitive to my needs."

CaiYun has become a boasting mom, often telling others how smart and funny CunCun is. When CaiYun asks him to recite the simple, ancient poems she has taught him, CunCun has no performance anxiety: he speaks fluently and always gets a lot of applause from his audience of other nannies, children, or guests. CaiYun knows that CunCun may have to have a catheter for the rest of his life, but she also knows that he will grow up to be a "smart and kind person": "Our CunCun will definitely be knowledgeable when he grows up. I believe he can make some contribution to society and have a bright future."