Caring out of the ordinary

Understanding, family support remain crucial for Chinese children suffering from rare diseases, reports Zhao Xu.

It has been three years, but Li Jia still remembers the day when she looked into her daughter's eyes and saw nothing.

"Her eyes wandered past me to focus, in an unfathomable gaze, on the motionless tree leaves outside our apartment window. There was no flame of excitement, no glint of curiosity, not even a faint glimmer of interest inside her dewy eyes, only the blurry outlines of the tree," recalled the mother, in a voice as calming as it was emotionally disturbing.