9-Year-Old Malaysian Girl Needs Donations For Treatment Of Rare Form Of Leukaemia

Dealing with terminal illnesses at a young age can be distressing for young children. Even more so, when treatment for such diseases requires a huge amount of funds.

This is unfortunately the case for nine-year-old Qian Thong, who suffers from a rare form of leukaemia.

Her family is urgently appealing for donations of up to S$330,000, to manage the high costs of treatment for the disease.

Symptoms began with swollen neck

Posting a crowdfunding campaign for Qian Thong to Give.asia, her family shared that her symptoms started in September 2022 when her neck began to swell.

The swelling on the right side of her neck was apparently tender to the touch and palpable. Three weeks before the diagnosis, her family admitted her to Fatimah Hospital in Ipoh for gastroenteritis.

While there was no abnormalities during a blood test, a paediatric specialist on 22 Oct 2022 said that the swelling to her neck and bruises on her left thigh were abnormal.

The results of a subsequent blood report led to the diagnosis of paediatric leukaemia due to abnormality of her white blood cells.

Medical staff referred Qian Thong to government hospitals in Ipoh for further investigation and treatment.

Diagnosed with rare type of leukaemia

After the first phase of induction chemotherapy, Qian Thong was diagnosed with a “distinctly rare subtype” of paediatric leukaemia, Early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or ETP-ALL.

This was more complex and had a lower chance of rec...