Picture: Xiaoxia’s left foot instep is much swollen, she has to wear a self-made flip
At Honglai Town of Nan’an [Fujian Province], the reporter met up with Xiao Xia [pseudonymous]. She sported a head of short hair and her face was delicate. But her left leg was apparently different from that of an average person, with the swollen left foot instep which was about 6cm thick. Moreover, her left leg swell completely between the ankle to the thigh. The upper and lower part of the problematic leg were almost the same round, but more thicker than an adult’s leg.
“Do you feel painful?” asked the reporter who touched Xiaoxia’s leg of no elasticity. “Nope”, replied she, shaking the head. According to the mother Ms. Huang, Xiaoxia’s two legs were of different sizes at her birth and several days later the left one was doulbe sized than the right counterpart. Ms Huang said the family members very were all healthy and did not have any hereditary disease. She believed Xiaoxia’s “illness” could probably be due to a medication during her gestation. ” When eight months pregnant, I once had the intravenous infusion in a small clinic, which possibly caused the syndrome[of then unborn XiaoXia).
Right after Xiaoxia was born, the life of Ms. Huang and husband Mr. Dai was totally changed. They often carried the kid to seek the treatment for her in the general hospitals of various cities. Ms. Huang said, these years, they had taken their daughter to see doctors in Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Xiaomen and Shanghai. Last year, a hospital in Xiamen diagnosed Xiaoxia with the lynmphedema and advised to do surgeries. Yesterday, during a call, this Xiamen hospital's Dr. Qi said, he was always concerned with Xiaoxia's condition, "she really was diagnosed with the (lower limbs) lynmphedema [wikipedia, medscape.com], but because her illness was congenital, the cause of disease remained unclear, there are risks to undergo the surgeries”.
According to Mr. Dai, if to cure her daughter’s illness, several operations are to be needed. But because of the concerns for risks that may arise from the surgeries, so far he dares not to send Xiaoxia to the operation table. Furthermore, he is rely on repairing the motorcycles to make money and his wife works outside all the year around, the surgery expenses are a problem.
This year Xiaoxia is 5 years old, still attending the kindergarten. “Sometime she told to us, she wanted to be same with other schoolmates, to dance freely.” Ms. Huang said. Once her legs were exposed under the sunlight, Xiaoxia would get a fevor. “Let alone dancing, she even dares not go out see the sun ah.”
