Hui Yuxin, a 22-month-old girl who is ill with several diseases, receives treatment at Beijing Children's Hospital on Sunday. ZHOU GANGFENG / FOR CHINA DAILY

A seriously ill toddler whose family was too poor to pay for her medical care is now being treated in a Beijing hospital thanks to donations from netizens and an anonymous visitor.

Hui Yuxin, who will turn 2 in July, was diagnosed with anal polyps shortly after birth in Lantian county, in Northwest China's Shaanxi province. Her family, however, only took her to a hospital when her condition dramatically worsened in March.

They brought her to a children's hospital in Xi'an, the provincial capital, but checked her out again three days later.

"We just didn't have the money for the hospital bills," said the girl's grandmother Chen Yaqin, 49. "The mother left the family when the girl was 4 months old. Her father, who couldn't take the stress of his daughter's illness, got a concussion from hitting his head against the wall, and my husband is recovering from a traffic accident."

In April, Chen contacted Angel Mom, an NGO in Beijing that specializes in taking care of and raising money for disadvantaged children. With 400 yuan ($65), she brought the girl to Beijing on April 29.

"I was shocked when I first saw the child. She was so skinny and weak, and she had to close her eyes every once in a while," said Wang Yu, an Angel Mom staff member.

"We immediately recommended that Chen take her to a children's hospital. But the doctor there told us that the child was in serious condition and needed to be transferred for better treatment."

On May 4, Angel Mom helped Hui get registered at Beijing Children's Hospital, where she is now in the intensive care unit. The organization also opened an account to raise donations for her care. "We put posts on Sina Weibo (China's answer to Twitter) asking for help, and planned to raise 80,000 yuan at first to stop her diarrhea and help her recover from malnutrition," said Wang. "The amount of donations pledged online has reached nearly 40,000 yuan, more than 10,000 yuan of which has already been received."

On Monday, a man came to visit Hui and left 150,000 yuan in cash for her treatment, "but he didn't tell me who he was", said Chen.

An Angel Mom staff member who give only his surname Pan, helped Chen deposit 140,000 yuan of the donation to the hospital for further treatment.

"We hope that the money can be used to help the baby," said Pan.

Hui has been diagnosed with diarrhea, severe malnutrition and rectal fistula.

"She is much better now," Chen said on Monday as she cared for Hui, who was receiving nourishment intravenously. "The doctor told me that if the diarrhea is cleared up, it will really help in resolving her fistula problem. She needs the diarrhea to stop, and she needs to gain weight before undergoing surgery."

A 23-year-old woman named Du came to visit Hui on Monday. "This is my second time visiting her after getting to know her story on Sina Weibo," said Du, "When I put lotion on her skin, which is all shrivelled up, I could feel her bones. It was heartbreaking."

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn