Adopted Chinese girl saved by a viral letter
Alberta couple’s plea to find daughter’s biological siblings proves successful
In early 2017, Cathy Crowell of Edmonton penned an open letter that went viral on Chinese social media.
“To my daughter’s family,” it began.
Hosanna, the Chinese girl whom Crowell and her husband, Greg, had adopted years earlier had a genetic blood disorder. Her best shot at living a long life would be a bone-marrow transplant from a sibling.
At the time, the Crowells knew finding Hosanna’s biological family in a country with more than 1.3 billion people would be like “finding a needle at the bottom of the ocean.”
But almost four years later, the Crowells are ready to share an update with the world: They found the biological family and hope to schedule a transplant for Hosanna, now 14 and an avid Oilers fan, this year.
“Isn’t that amazing?” Crowell told the Star on Monday. “It really fills us with renewed hope.”
In 2004, the Crowells, who have four adult children, were empty nesters when they made the “radical” decision to move to China to do humanitarian work, Cathy recounted in a recent online post.
About three years in, a friend called to say there was a little girl at an orphanage in Guizhou province who was close to dying. Would they be able to take her home and care for her until she passed? At that point, Hosanna was 13 months old and weighed less than eight pounds.
A visit to a pediatrician confirmed the situation was grave. At the hospital, doctors determined her red blood cell count was dangerously low and gave her a blood transfusion.
“It was absolutely miraculous how she responded. Her little body was literally infused with life!” Crowell wrote.
Tests later revealed Hosanna had a blood condition called beta thalassemia major that would require regular blood transfusions for the rest of her life.
“Our purpose in China now became twofold. We still desired to make a difference, but our lives had become intertwined with this precious little girl’s so a new direction emerged. Caring for Hosanna was now our primary focus.”
In late 2009 the Crowells adopted Hosanna, then three years old, and moved back to Canada. When they asked doctors if there was a cure, they were told there was. It would require a bone-marrow transplant from a sibling.
As the years went by, Crowell said, a “burning determination” grew within her to find Hosanna’s biological family.
In 2017, she wrote an open letter hoping, somehow, it would find its way to them.
“We have never met,” she wrote, “but when I look into my adopted daughter’s eyes, I see such beauty and I know that she must have come from a lovely family.”
Bowen Zhang, Mandarin anchor for OMNI television news in Vancouver, and his friend, Kevin Luan, a writer in Beijing, jumped in and helped the Crowells distribute the letter on Weibo and other Chinese social media platforms.
Local government officials in Guizhou also distributed thousands of flyers.
The letter went viral, infusing the Crowells with hope this just might work. But then things went quiet.
Several months after penning the letter, Crowell said Zhang contacted her out of the blue with news.
“You know how stuff gets recirculated on Facebook? That’s exactly what happened,” Crowell said. “I believe the biological dad saw the notification and knew right away from the pictures, ‘That’s my daughter.’”
The father reached out to Luan via social media, who then notified Zhang.
Because abandoning a child is illegal in China, the Crowells are not sharing any details about Hosanna’s biological family to maintain their privacy. But DNA tests later confirmed a match. One of Hosanna’s two biological siblings was also confirmed to be a “perfect” bone-marrow match for Hosanna.
“In North America, there’s so many adopted Chinese children looking for their biological families and so many patients looking for a match,” said Zhang. “I just hope Hosanna’s story can bring hope to them.”
Arrangements were made for the transplant to take place last May. But those plans were scrubbed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The families now hope to reschedule the transplant for later this year.
Until the operation, Hosanna maintains an upbeat spirit despite having gone through 285 blood transfusions, her adoptive family said.
When she’s not cheering on her hometown NHL team, she’s a voracious reader, and fan of BBC period dramas and anything to do with Star Wars. She also plays violin, has been taking diving lessons and enjoys card tricks.