Cai Yingbo
A TIBETAN girl aged 6 who suffered from Dandy-Walker malformation, a congenital abnormality of the central nervous system, underwent successful surgery at Shenzhen No. 2 People’s Hospital yesterday.
The girl, Yideng Cuomu, was born in a small village some 600 kilometers from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. Cuomu’s head started becoming abnormally large when she was 4 years old. With a big head and small body, Cuomu always lost her balance and fell when she walked.
“More than three-quarters of Cuomu’s brain is filled with liquid, which has impeded the growth of the girl’s brain cells,” said Huang Guodong, head of the Shenzhen hospital’s neurosurgery department.
The surgery started at 7 a.m. yesterday and lasted more than three hours.
“The operation has successfully drained the liquid from Cuomu’s brain to the abdominal cavity to bring her out of danger,” said Li Weiping, the doctor in charge of the operation.
“However, there are still some risks involved in the coming week, including infection, convulsions and intracranial hemorrhage,” said Li, adding it might take several months, even several years, for Cuomu to recover.
Cuomu came to Shenzhen with her uncle Luo Rong who knew only simple Chinese on April 25, after Cuomu’s story was covered by a journalist with China National Radio’s Shenzhen bureau.
Cuomu’s father works in a town near his home and her mother and uncle were the only people who could take care of her. It was estimated that the total cost of the operation would be around 40,000 yuan (US$5,714), but the family was not able to cover the cost.
After Cuomu’s story was published in Chinese-language newspapers in Shenzhen, many residents donated money for her surgery and a total of more than 40,000 yuan had been donated before the operation.
Members of the public may donate money to a bank account opened by the Shenzhen Red Cross to help Cuomu recover. Bank name: Industrial Bank Shenzhen Branch. Bank account: 3370 10100 1000 71011 (Please note the purpose of the donations).
