Hidden cost of rare diseases

Top: Liu Kaiqian needs support to move even one step outside his house because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease. He is one of six in his family who have the rare degenerative disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Liu's family, including his grandmother, in the doorway, lives in Liangping county in Chongqing in Southwest China. Chun Qiu / for China Daily Above: Huang Rufang was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, sometimes called brittle bone disease, because the rare condition interferes with the production of strong bones. He was photographed in December briefing volunteers about a charity sale in Beijing that aimed to raise awareness of the disease. Provided to China Daily