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SINGAPOREANS have raised more than $30,000 for an eight-year-old Indonesian girl stricken with leukaemia.
The good samaritans came forward with donations after the girl's cousin, who is Singaporean, set up a blog and a Facebook page to highlight her plight. Vercella Veronica is currently receiving treatment here.
The girl had fainted in her Batam home two weeks ago.
After doctors there diagnosed her as suffering from leukaemia, they advised the family to send the girl to a Singapore hospital for treatment.
She and her parents are Indonesian citizens.
The family arrived here by ferry on Aug17 and went straight to KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).
By then, Vercella was so sick she had become unconscious.
Speaking in Teochew, her father, MrTan Song Tie, 40, told The New Paper: "She had to undergo four blood transfusions. It was a near brush with death."
Vercella was warded at KKH for a week. After she was discharged, she and her parents stayed with Mr Tan's sister, who is Singaporean, in her Yishun flat.
The girl goes to KKH every other day for chemotherapy treatment and will undergo a bone marrow examination in two weeks.
Mr Tan said his daughter will receive six months of intensive treatment before she can return to Indonesia.
He added that doctors have told him the girl has an 80 per cent chance of survival.
Now the family is struggling to pay her medical bills, which they said could come to $100,000.
Mr Tan earns 1 million rupiah (S$150) a month as a cashier while his wife, Ms Yani, 38, is a housewife.
The couple, who have another daughter, 12, raised $5,000 by selling their jewellery. Family and friends in Indonesia contributed another $2,000.
Property agent Daniel Phua, 28, one of Vercella's cousins, set up a blog and Facebook page for her.
After reading about Vercella's plight, more than 220 people, mostly Singaporeans, donated $32,000 to the family.
The largest donation of $3,000 came from local company Shun Cheng Furniture and Renovation, but its owner declined to be interviewed.
A group of mothers from parenting website Singaporemotherhood.com are also helping by selling assorted baby products with all proceeds going towards Vercella's treatment.
They have raised about $40, but the group's representative, Ms Carolina Chalker, 35, said some members will make personal donations.
Ms Chalker, a mother of four, added: "I heard about Vercella online and was moved. She is so brave to endure such treatments. She's so young and has her whole life ahead of her."
When The New Paper visited Vercella at home last Friday, we saw bruises on her hands from the chemotherapy injections, but she seemed unfazed by her illness and was writing multiplication tables.
Mr Tan said his daughter does not understand the seriousness of her condition.
Tears welling up in his eyes, he said: "I didn't think her condition was so serious at first."
This article was first published in The New Paper.
