Life of Guangzhou - Company Helps Worker Fight Against Leukemia

Paul Withers, regional managing director of Mainetti Group, a company that spent hundreds of thousands of yuan to help a worker suffering from leukemia, said the company did that simply because "it is the right thing to do."

Yang Xiaochao, the 23-year-old woman who was diagnosed with the deadly disease in 2004, is now waiting to undergo a stem cell transplant in three to four weeks' time, which may cure her.

Mr. Paul Withers

The company has been paying Yang's medical fees since she fell ill, even though the girl worked in the company for less than a year.

"We believe helping less fortunate people is the right thing to do," Withers told the Shenzhen Daily in an interview Friday. "What we did is not uncommon in Europe," he added. Withers is responsible for the U.K.-based company's operations in Asia.

Withers learned about Yang's condition during a regular visit to the company's Shenzhen factory. "The factory manager told me a girl on the production line was not feeling well. But things deteriorated quickly and within several days, she was diagnosed as having leukemia," Withers recalled.

In the United Kingdom, the treatment of leukemia is usually shouldered by the government. It is unthinkable for a family to face the huge cost of the treatment alone, said Withers.

Hoping to save Yang, who is the same age as his daughter, Withers sent e-mails to his colleagues around the world, asking for help. "They responded very well," he said. So far the company has received more than 300,000 yuan (US$37,500) in donations for Yang, and it has promised to match the amount of donation.

Asked if such financial help to a worker would be contradictory to the need to make profits, Withers said the company's shareholders are all committed to helping Yang. "For a company of our size, it is not difficult to support a worker like Yang for a number of years. Besides, most of the donations are from individuals," he said. "The company always cares for its employees, because it wants to keep good people."