http://en.chinafotopress.com/index/onephoto?gid=2899747&lid=3905&offset=1Beijing,China---Boy Hou Guozhu, 8-year-old, is a "half brain boy" from Dongying of Sandong Province, China. Guozhu was not born with "half brain" but due to the brain surgery (hemispheresectomy) resulting from the treatment of Rasmussen's Encephalitis. Born as half of a pair of healthy twins, Guozhu came to the world just three minutes later than his brother. Guozhu's "birth defect" did not manifest until he was three years old when his left-side limbs developed habitual muscle spasms. Guozhu's parents sought the treatments for their little son in many hospitals but no any betterment was received. In 2006, Guozhu's father Hou Xiaofeng brought him to Beijing Sanbo Brain Institute where the doctors diagnosed Guozhu with Rasmussen's encephalitis. Since then, Guozhu had underwent four major skull-opening surgeries and his right cerebral hemisphere was removed. According to those Beijing Sanbo Brain Institute doctors/nurses interviewed, Guozhu's operations were "very successful" and his convulsive symptoms "almost disappeared", but because of the cutting edge infection spead after discharging from the hospital, Guozhu's right-side skull bone was forced to be removed. Witnessing his son having only half of an brain left, father Hou Xiaofeng understandably said the hospital did not cure his son. Mr. Hou has sold his house and all of those belongings with a bit value to pay the medical bills, he still owns more than 100,000RMB (15,000USD, an astronautic amount of money for most of the Chinese peasents) to the hospital. Mr. Hou told Sohu Video Blog he has no any money to continue his son's future treatment. Now, the poor father and son even does not have money to buy train tickets to go back from Beijing to Shandong. For more photos or detailed reports, please contact world@chinafotopress.com.
