Imagine having a child diagnosed with a chronic disease. Imagine feeling the hope in knowing that there is a treatment for that disease. Then imagine learning that the treatment becomes out of reach due to ongoing cost. Imagine knowing that without that treatment, the child will not survive. That is the reality for the families who come to us at Knowing Hope. 
It is 2019 and a thalassemia major diagnosis here in the US brings the expectation that the child will live to be a grandparent. The reality for the children we serve in China is much different. There, the life expectancy averages 12 years old.
The above photo is what it looks like to be a child dying of thalassemia in 2019. This little boy is now 12, and his heart is failing. He struggles to breathe. His spleen is huge and causing complications. And his father cannot afford the cost of his hospital stay and life saving spleen removal surgery. We are determined to give him a chance. Would you help us give him a chance to live?

Leukemia. Cancer. These are words that any parent would dread to hear. For impoverished parents in rural China, hearing these words brings unparalleled desperation. Children can only receive treatment if their families can afford to pay the tens of thousands of RMB for chemotherapy courses (10,000 RMB=$1400 USD) which can lead to cure. We have learned that children literally have died ONLY because their families have had to stop treatment due to cost. Not because the treatment wasn’t working, but because of cost. These treatments mean the difference between having a chance to live or die. We are devastated by the hopelessness that we are hearing from these families. We are determined to do all we can to ensure that the children can receive the chemotherapy treatments they need to fight this dreadful disease. We are determined to offer a tiny bit of hope during a very dark and scary time. Would you please help us give hope and life?