Thanks to assistance of a German couple living in Shanghai and their friends, Xiao Liewen - a 17-year-old girl whose face was seriously damaged in an accident - boarded a flight to Germany last night to receive plastic surgery. On December 28, 2001, Xiao was taking a shower at home, when she was poisoned by a gas leak and fell on an electric heater, according to the Xinmin Evening News.
By the time her father broke into the bathroom, Xiao's face had already been badly burned. However, the family couldn't afford high costs of plastic surgery to repair the damage. Last year, Franz Gitl and Regine Eder, the German couple, learned of the miserable story and decided to help Xiao. They and their friends in Shanghai and Germany helped find a sponsor hospital for the girl who will travel with her mother to Germany and undergo plastic surgery on Thursday evening.
(eastday.com January 29, 2003)
