Li Juan, a mother of two in Fuping County, Hebei Province, still hopes to wake up one day to find it was all just a bad dream. Three years ago, she took her 10-year-old son to Beijing to undergo major surgery—a liver transplant. Two years ago, she took her daughter to Wuhan, Hubei Province, to have the same surgery.
Li’s two children were diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia—a rare inherited metabolic disorder that negatively alters the way the body processes cholesterol, and leads to a higher risk of coronary disease and a greater risk of early heart attack.
To help the new liver survive in their bodies, both children had to take anti-rejection medicines, or immunosuppressants, to weaken their immune system’s response. They need to take these medicines for the rest of their lives.
