「The doctor who did the intake interview for Julia at the PICU at first was quite cold and intimidating. Especially after having had to hand over Julia and the doors being closed, this was extremely challenging. What we found out later is that this specific unit is where they handle the most serious cases, and this was, in fact, a trauma ICU, which is why the unit is closed, because their approach is very much focused on the emergency rescue of the admitted children. It was hard for us therefore to get a clear understanding of the situation, as communication with parents is limited.」
Faced with the challenge of finding blood donors for their daughter, the Klein Bogs didn’t know where to turn.
「They simply told us 『you must find more A blood for tomorrow,』 which was very scary. We didn’t know how to contact the blood bank, where it was, or what the procedure was. It turned out we had to recruit people to come directly to a particular building at the hospital where blood could be taken. This seems to be a specific issue for the military hospital, as they are not in direct connection with Beijing’s central blood bank like the other public hospitals are.」
Marie describes this situation as 「crazy」. Fortunately, however, Beijing’s international community came to the rescue.
「It started with a phone call I made on Sunday afternoon to my best friend Mathilde, who lives in Wuhan, explaining our situation and that we needed blood. She told me she had a well-connected friend in Beijing who maybe could help. This friend put me in touch with Marianne, who started a whole community on WeChat to find A- donors. Our other very good friends who were by our side in Beijing, Bibiana, Natasha, and Corentin, joined forces together with Marianne and helped to coordinate the WeChat groups to recruit donors. The way that the community rallied for our daughter was simply unbelievable. A- is much more common among foreigners, which is why we needed the help of the expat community.
「My husband and I at this time were in a state of shock, and therefore relied completely on our friends to organize and coordinate the donation sessions: sending maps on WeChat, checking people’s blood type, informing people about the donation procedure, and after people came to give blood, offering water and snacks to help them recoup. This group, that we called Julia’s 『Guardian Angels,』 have been our biggest support during these trying times, by helping us stay distracted, helping with language obstacles in communication with doctors, or simply offering a place to sleep, because sleeping at home was too difficult. Having a strong community of friends you can rely on during these times is extremely important, as you realize you are very much in a strange country when things go bad.」
We ask Marie what other parents can learn from her experience.
「Have a plan ready for when the worst happens,」 she says. 「An international hospital like BJU is a good start, and most of the time they will be able to deal with minor incidents or illnesses. But have some understanding of what the best Chinese hospitals are in town. Make sure you have insurance which is able to cover medical costs to Chinese public hospitals through a local agent – direct billing does not exist in the Chinese public healthcare system. Have someone by your side who is fluent in Chinese for any conversations with doctors; this will help to take the edge off as they are quite harsh in their communication, especially when trying to speak English.
「And in the end, listen to your kid. When something out of the ordinary is going on and you have a weird feeling, take them to see a doctor immediately. As a parent, you know when things are not right.」
Julia is now recovering well, and Marie is full of gratitude to all concerned.
「We would like to thank Doctor Yu Bang at Bayi Hospital, who with his medical team saved Julia, by giving her the emergency rescue that she needed. The skill and expertise of the Bayi PICU is world class; however, they could work on patient and parent communication, which seems to be a bigger priority in the medical system in Holland (where we are now) and the West.