“MY wish for the new year is that my daughter will be safe and sound,” said the father of a girl suffering from a rare heart disease in Longgang District.

    The father, surnamed Gao, said his daughter, identified as Anqi, had spent her Spring Festival in a hospital for congenital heart disease.

    The 8-year-old girl has been hospitalized since December. Doctors suggested that Anqi have another surgery, but the cost of her previous treatment had already put the family into huge debt and Gao has no other solution but to ask for help from the society.

    An Anhui Province native, Gao, 40, married in 2007 and later Anqi was born. However, Anqi’s mother died in a car accident when the girl was 3 years old. Gao has been taking care of his daughter on his own since then.

    Gao and Anqi came to Shenzhen four years ago. Gao makes a living as a street vendor. Life has been hard for the father and the daughter.

    In June, Anqi suffered from a seizure and passed out on a coach. She was later diagnosed with serious arrhythmia. After being hospitalized at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital for more than two weeks, the girl was transferred to a larger hospital in Guangzhou under the doctors’ suggestion.

    Guangzhou doctors told Gao that Anqi was suffering from a rare heart disease and would need to undergo two surgeries.

    The cost of the surgeries was unbearable for the family and Gao had to borrow money from his friends and relatives. In July, Anqi had the first surgery, which cost 80,000 yuan (US$11,632). The whole treatment cost Gao 110,000 yuan.

    Anqi then went home as the doctors said that a second surgery would be risky for such a young child and asked Gao to take care of her until she was old enough for the second surgery.

    Anqi, however, suffered another seizure at the end of last year and went unconscious for 20 minutes. She was taken to an ICU at the children’s hospital, where she spent the Spring Festival.

    According to Anqi’s doctor, her life is at risk as she could suffer from a heart attack at any time. A surgery is needed to cure her. The doctor suggested a second surgery.

    However, Gao said he could not afford a second surgery as he was already more than 250,000 yuan in debt.

    Anqi’s second surgery is scheduled for tomorrow and will cost around 100,000 yuan. Gao has already launched an online fund-raising project but has only received 22,481 yuan.

    “I tried everything I could and now I hope that kind people will reach out and help us get through this,” said Gao.

    Donations for Anqi can be made through the following bank account.

    Account name: Shenzhen Project Care Foundation

    深圳市关爱行动公益基金会

    Account number: 7559 1734 0410 202

    Bank: Shangbu Branch of China Merchants Bank

    招商银行深圳分行上步支行

    Please make a note on the donation that the money is for “Gao Anqi’s treatment.” ( 高安琪治疗费)(Zhang Qian)