A trio of local women have set up an online store to raise money for a five-year-old boy from Jiangsu Province who needs a bone marrow transplant to treat his leukemia.

 

The women were inspired by a single mother in Jiangsu's Suzhou City who set up an online store to support her daughter and herself after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

 

The new store, Yican's Room, was set up on Taobao.com, a well-known e-commerce site, to raise the 300,000 yuan (US$37,500) needed for Liu Yican's transplant. To date, it has raised 60,000 yuan selling pictures painted by the boy's mother, who paints as a hobby, and 200,000 yuan in donations from all over the country, according to Gu Haiyan, one of the local women running the store.

 

Gu said she and her friends read about Liu's illness and financial problems on the Internet and decided they should help him out.

 

All of the money raised from the store has been placed in the "Yican Foundation," which is managed by the Suzhou Red Cross to ensure donors it won't be spent on anything but medical bills.

 

"I'm very grateful for what they have done for my little son," said the boy's mother Zhu Ruijuan. "I hope the Yican Foundation can rescue more children suffering from leukemia after my son's recovery or passing away."

 

While the store has almost raised enough money for the transplant, doctors have not yet found a donor for the boy.

 

Gu and her friends were inspired by a store called Magic Beans, which was set up on Taobao.com by Zhou Lihong whose husband abandoned her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

 

"When Zhou was very sick and was abandoned by her husband, she opened Magic Beans to support her and her daughter's lives," said Gu. "Her perseverance moved us a lot, and we decided to take care of her daughter after her death."

 

Zhou died last April, but Gu and her friends took over the store to support Zhou's daughter Zhou Yu. They also travel to Suzhou once a month to meet the girl, help her with her studies and take her out for a little fun.

 

"I'm very happy when little Zhou Yu calls me Shanghai Mother," said Gu.

 

Inspired by the success of the Magic Beans store, which sells children's clothing, Taobao has teamed up with the China Red Cross and computer company ASUS to set up a foundation on the Website to help needy mothers around the country.

 

ASUS offers free hardware and software as well as training for impoverished mothers who want to set up their own online shops. To date, five mothers have taken advantage of the help to establish stores.

 

(Shanghai Daily April 2, 2007)