Guangxi father, Chen Hanchao, gave birth to another baby to save daughter

Updated: 13 Mar 2010
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 Chen Hanchao loves his children very much
 
A Chinese couple was suggested to give birth to another baby to save their daughter who suffers from Thalassaemia, an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease, and recently the hospital thinks the time is right for the 3-year-old to donate his marrow to his 4-year-old sister.
 
Chen Hanchao, of Guangxi province, gave birth to his daughter, Wenjin, four years ago. “She was very beautiful. Everyone loves her.” However, when she was three months old, the baby was diagnosed with thalassaemia.
 
"It’s crushing news to us!” Chen was told he and his wife are both thalassaemia gene bearers after the local hospital confirmed his daughter’s disease. “In a rural area, we don’t have pre-marriage or pregnancy checkups. If we had known, we won’t try this luck.”
 
Chen said he took his daughter to every major hospital in Guangzhou, capital of southern China’s Guangdong province. “The doctors at Guangzhou City Women and Children’s Hospital suggested us to give birth to another kid, using the newborn’s marrow to save our daughter.”
 
Chen said without too much consideration, they made up the decision of giving birth to another kid.
 
Chen’s son, Chen Wenwei, was born three years ago at Nanfang Hospital, and at that time the umbilical cord blood was preserved for future marrow transplantation.
 
Tests show that the boy, Chen Wenwei, is healthy and matches with his sister for marrow transplantation.
 
Professor Wu Jianpeng, chief surgeon at Nanfang Hospital said the family is really lucky, as there are only 3/16 rate that the couple can give birth to a healthy baby who can match the sister’s marrow for donation.
 
Professor Wu said considering Wenjin is four years old and her brother is 3 years old, the time is right for the surgery. “We have 80% confidence for the success of the surgery. After the marrow transplantation, the sister’s new marrow will grow out in 10 days.”
 
Chen Hanchao said his son still doesn’t fully understand he was born to save his sister, but only knows that he is to take some shots. “I am gambling for this. For my daughter, I can risk anything.”
 
Thalassaemia is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease. In thalassemia, the genetic defect results in reduced rate of synthesis of one of the globin chains that make up hemoglobin. Reduced synthesis of one of the globin chains can cause the formation of abnormal hemoglobin molecules, thus causing anemia, the characteristic presenting symptom of the thalassemias.
 
Source: Guangzhou Daily
 
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