A 26-YEAR-OLD mother who was diagnosed with leukemia in Shenzhen is seeking help from her siblings, who she hasn’t seen for over two decades, as she was sent to a foster family two days after she was born, the Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

    Han Yahui, who was born in a rural village in Henan Province, gave birth to a son in 2013, a year after she married her husband. “We were not so well-off, but our life was full of happiness, and I had a great longing for our future,” she said.

    Han has been working at Foxconn in Longhua for three years before she was diagnosed with leukemia Oct. 5. As her condition worsened, she was advised to accept a stem cell transplant.

    Han’s foster parents traveled to Henan Province and found her biological father, surnamed Hou. They hoped to persuade Hou’s family to do a bone-marrow test to see if they matched Han and could be donors.

    Han’s biological mother has already passed away, while her two sisters have gotten married and her younger brother is studying in college. “I was heartbroken when I saw my aged father. He has to support the family and pay for my younger brother’s schooling,” Han said.

    According to Han, both of her sisters refused to do the test for her, and her brother, who is preparing for a postgraduate entrance exam, is too busy to do the test. “They told me to take chemotherapy and look for donors in the China Marrow Donor Program,” Han said.

    Han said that her brother told her on the phone that he would respect his father’s decision, but Hou didn’t make it clear whether or not he wanted the son to be the donor.

    Calls to Hou’s phone went unanswered Sunday, and Han’s brother’s phone was powered off.

    Han’s husband, surnamed Xi, said that when he visited Han’s brother in Henan, the brother said that Han had never called him. “Why don’t you ask if I am well-fed and well-clothed? Why don’t you even care about me, but instead only talk about her?” Han’s brother told Xi.

    Han is receiving chemotherapy at Hong Kong University Shenzhen Hospital. Li Huijun, a doctor in the hospital’s hematology department, said that a stem cell transplant is the primary, and probably the only, way to cure Han, because the tumor cells in her body are somewhat resistant to chemotherapy.

    Li said that even if Han had a successful stem cell transplant, her chances of surviving the next five years would only be 40 to 50 percent. Based on the principles of seeking donors, Li said that most patients would look for donors among their own siblings before they turned to China Marrow Donor Program or overseas bone marrow banks.

    Over 2.31 million volunteers have registered with the China Marrow Donor Program, and 6,055 of them had donated stem cells to leukemia patients as of Oct. 31, according to the report.

    “I really hope my sisters and brother can read this report. I know they won’t abandon me even though we’ve been separated for over 20 years,” she said. “We are still a family. I will remember their kindness to me for the rest of my life.” (Zhang Yang)