On my way to visit the first Angel Heart International candidate in Dingxi, Gansu, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear and anticipation. I had already seen from the web site’s pictures, an a slideshow, what the patients would look like. But pictures are very limited in the sense that an event is made up of much more than an image on a screen. One must also take into account many things: the smells, the temperatures, the moods, the personalities. In other words, it is the difference between knowing all the interview questions and sweating under the scorching intensity of the actual interview.

After riding for about an hour on a relentlessly bumpy and undeveloped road (the patients lived outside of the city in farmland), we finally arrived at the first child's house. To put it plainly, it was nothing like any place I’ve ever seen in the United States. The lack of street lights, paved roads, sewers, fire hydrants and electricity was made up for by the abundance of trees, soil, vegetation, animals and sense of tranquility. And then I realized that with such a low standard of living, it is no wonder that this family, and others like them, need the help of Angel Heart.

The first child was a shy 7-year-old boy. His name is Xiao Yong. He greeted us by hiding behind his parents, obviously not used to visitors, and definitely not used to visitors like us. When Dr. Xingguang Liu from the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of Gansu Province People’s Hospital first performed a check up on him, Yong had a scared, unsure look on his face. I imagine the freezing cold stethoscope upon his skin must have added to the unfamiliar feeling created by our group of volunteers standing in his living room. After Dr. Liu finished his check-up, my sisters and I were allowed to listen to his heartbeat. Although I already knew that the heartbeats of those who had CHD were supposed to be muddy and fast due to a hole in their heart’s septum I was shocked when I heard the little Boy’s heartbeat. I could hear the blood racing to get oxygen around the boy’s little body. I could hear the mixing of the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. And I could hear the absence of any clear beats. The sheer reality of this sound struck me to my soul. I felt a clinching soreness in my chest, making me thankful for the healthy life that I was born into. As we were leaving, Yong ran behind us, laughing with his friends. It was truly a glorious yet sorrowful sight because even in the face of a life threatening illness, this little boy had the strength to still be a kid.

The house of the next child, Ma Juan, was on the top of a tall mountain. Our whole group had to climb up a long way through dirt roads, farms, and a pile of chicken feathers to arrive at her house. From the looks of their living room, this family was poorer than the previous one. Under a leaky ceiling made from mud and over a floor made of dirt, Juan’s entire family cramme into this tiny room, anxiously waiting to see if they could receive Angel Heart’s help. Angel Heart will help them after an ultrasound is conducted to show that Juan’s CHD is treatable. The family would have to pay 500 yuan for this preliminary examination. Despite their circumstances, the family immediately replied that they would definitely do it, even though 500 yuan is probably more than they make in a year. After leaving, I heard that the father’s brother eve offered to sell all of his goats to help pay for the examination. This is what a family is: a group of people bonded by an indescribable love who would sacrifice themselves for one another. And this is the kind of idea that organizations such as Angel Heart promote: that humanity is a family, and that those who are more fortunate should reach out to help those who are in need.

The next day after we visited these two patients, we went to Gansu Province People’s Hospital in Lanzhou Dr. Liu and Ms. Niu, who are both AHI volunteers, were very helpful in guiding us around the hospital. First we visited a patient that had received help from Angel Heart. In a white room with nothing but beds and medical equipment, the little boy looked at us with curious eyes. When Dr. Liu walked into the room, you could see the clear gratefulness in the family’s smiling faces. To a poor family like theirs, help from Angel Heart must truly be like help from an angel.

This trip to Gansu has revealed to me a completely new perspective on the life I have been living up until now. Throughout my entire life, the biggest problems I’ve ever had was getting good grades or finding time to practice fencing. In contrast, the patients in Gansu, even with Angel Heart’s financial assistance for the surgery, could barely pay for a preliminary examination. To be brutally honest, I could pay for that examination with my own pocket money. This visit to Angel Heart patients has really opened my eyes to the upsetting existence of diseases such as CHD, and the natural obligation of humans who are better off to help other humans live normal, healthy lives. Despite our differences, we are one people living in one world.