| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Mother thanks supporters after daughter's death
Wednesday August 13, 2003OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) The mother of a 3-year-old Chinese girl who died after a battle with congenital heart disease thanked supporters Tuesday for their efforts to save her daughter.
``This process has touched so many people's lives,'' Rui Cao said through an interpreter during a press conference in Oakland. ``It's not the end result that I am looking at, but it's a process that I have experienced. And that is more important than the end result.''
Cao's daughter, Kexin Zhou, died on July 15, nine weeks after she underwent open heart surgery.
Cao brought her daughter, who turned blue whenever she cried, to the United States early last year in search of a lifesaving medical procedure after doctors in China said the case was hopeless. Cao took her daughter to New York and eventually San Francisco.
Since then, some 3,500 people across the country have donated $380,000 for the girl's treatment, said M.L. Chan, who let Kexin and her mother stay with him in Sunnyvale.
Despite Kexin's death, Cao said she will not let her supporters' efforts die. After she returns home, she will devote herself to helping homeless children and orphans in China, she said.
Kexin's father remains in China because his U.S. visa expired.
A memorial service for Kexin will be held Sunday at a church in Mountain View.
On the Net: http://www.lordsgrace.org/
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