A boy suffering from a rare strain of anemia is recovering after receiving a marrow transplant yesterday morning in Shanghai Children's Medical Center.

Three-year-old Qiu Jianwen is in stable condition after getting 600 milliliters of hemopoietic stem cells, from a donor in Taiwan.

Leading surgeon Dr Chen Jing, who has remained by Qiu's side since the operation, said it would be two weeks before it is known if the operation was a success.

The young boy faces the prospect of infection or his body rejecting the stem cells.

Qui's family began to suspect something was medically wrong with their son more than a year ago after they found him trying to pick chalk off walls and eat it.

His parents, both migrant workers from Sichuan, tried to stop him but failed. The boy dug holes on walls with all kinds of tools he could find.

He was also considered shorter than children of the same age, but showed no signs of mental retardation. Last July, Dr Min Bihe diagnosed the boy with thalassemia, caused by a genetic defect, and risked only living another 7 years if there was no medical intervention.

But the only known cure is through marrow transplant, with an estimated cost of 300,000 yuan (US$38,824), an expense the boy's parents could not afford.

The boy, later sent to the hospital for treatment was dealt a blow, when it was revealed both parents had anemia, and would not be able to donate their marrow.

But last year, Shanghai's Dragon TV produced a segment on the boy, and in a heart-touching public reaction, people donated nearly 200,000 yuan (US$25,882).

Later more people donated money, and pop stars in Taiwan also held charity sales to raise funds for him.

Luckily again, a matching marrow donor was also found in Taiwan.

The marrow was taken out of the young man from the Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualian of Taiwan Province on Wednesday morning March 28, and was sent to Shanghai on the same evening.

"(Qiu Jianwen) is in high spirits now, only the appetite is not so good, but this is common after marrow transplant," Xia Lin, a hospital staff member said.

(China Daily March 30, 2007)