Hair Girl Plea for Help

By Kathryn Quinn

Xie Qihua, 35, can’t help weeping whenever she mentions her 4-year-old daughter Miaomiao.

Like every mum, Xie thinks her daughter is beautiful. But she is heartbroken by others treating her like a freak.

"People tease Miaomiao, call her names and say she is like a wild animal. It breaks my heart to see her treated in such a cruel way," she sobs.

The problem is the black hair-sprouting growths covering Miaomiao’s body, which doctors say if not treated will kill her.

"When Miaomiao was 3-months-old, these black spots began appearing on her face, back, chest and arms. At first we thought they were birthmarks, but then they began to grow and hair began sprouting from each," says distraught Xie from her home in the rural village of Anbian in the Sichuan province of southwest China.

As the spots began to increase and grow in size, panic-stricken Xie and husband Chen took Miaomiao off to their local rural hospital. There doctors diagnosed the hairy patches as melanoma, a type of skin cancer.

"We were besides ourselves with worry. No one in our families had ever had anything like this. The doctor told us he would need to operate on Miaomiao, and of course we agreed," says Xie. "We thought that would save her.

The first operation was on Miaomiao’s forehead and the right side of her face. She was only six months old.

"The doctor was sticking needles into her. It was horrific the way she cried. But I knew, I prayed it would be for the best. The doctor told us that because we had done something about it early on the operation would be successful and the growths would be permanently gone.

"And that gave us hope," says Xie.

"He then told us we should bring Miaomiao back to the hospital for another operation in six month’s time, which we did and this time the doctors operated on the rest of her body.

"And then we waited. We were told it would take about a year for the growths to disappear and we were full of hope.

"In the meantime life for my little Miaomiao became increasingly unpleasant. At first she was too young to understand the stares and laughs from other people, but I understood them. They were accusing and mocking.

"As she grew older I could see her beginning to shy away from people. She has never worn a dress, even when it is hot and sunny because I cannot bare for people to shout things out at her, which they do.

"After a year things hadn’t improved - in fact they had got worse. Miamiao was now two-and-a-half and although her face had cleared up a bit she still had these black marks with hair sprouting out and her legs and arms and body just looked horrific.

"Of course she was still beautiful for me, and she always will be. But people can be so cruel. All I want is for her to have a normal happy life. That is the least she deserves.

"But she was sneered at by other children and treated like a freak by other parents.

"We took her back to the hospital and the doctor told us there was nothing he could do. He said the growths were malignant and would soon develop into full blown cancer.

"We were devastated. After being told it would all be okay, to be be told she is beyond help was beyond belief. My husband fell into depression and started drinking heavily. The news destroyed him.

"The doctor told us that in the neighbouring province of Chongquing there was a doctor who may be able to help. We drove there with Miaomiao and he examined her thoroughly and then told us he could save her.

"Again we were full of hope. We had already spent thousands on the two previous treatments, but despite having no money we knew we had no choice.

"We went to work on our farm - working overtime into the night every night for months on end to raise enough money to pay for the operation which would cost 10,000 GBP.

"Eventually we had enough and so again Miaomiao went into the operating theatre and this time it was a huge success. Within months the marks on her face had almost completely disappeared.

"But by now the rest of the growths covered nearly 20 per cent of the rest of her body and the doctor told us that unless Miaomiao was operated on soon they would turn into fully blown cancerous growths and Miaomiao would die.

"He told us she would have to undergo serious skin grafting.  Apparently, her skin disease is caused by the localised proliferation of melanophores and such a large amount of melanins, covering 20 percent of the body is quite rare. The only cure is skin grafting," Xie says.

Having already spent tens of thousands of Yuan to remove the facial growths, Xie and husband Chen have now run out of money.

"We are desperate and are hoping our local community will be able to help," says Xie.

"If not our little Miaomiao will die."

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Journalism Without Borders is collecting money for Miaomiao's treatment.