By Ng Wan Ching

BLESS Xiaoou.

That's the name of the blog that has been set up to help raise money for Miss Zhang Xiao-ou's chemotherapy treatment.

It has raised more than $100,000 in donations - within three days.

The China national, a fourth-year quantitative finance student at the National University of Singapore's mathematics department, was diagnosed with leukaemia on 4 Mar.

After the shock diagnosis, Miss Zhang, 24, found out that her chemotherapy treatment at the National University Hospital would cost $400,000.

Her insurance coverage is not enough to pay for the treatment.

She told a few friends and fellow China nationals at NUS, who told more friends.

On 5 Mar, a day after her diagnosis, 10friends set up a committee to raise money for her treatment.

Her family lives in Jilin in the north-east of China. Only her father is working, and $400,000 will be near impossible for them to pay, said her friends.

They could not say what her father does for a living.

Said Mr Zhao Yu-qiao, 23, a final-year mechanical engineering student: 'We are Xiao-ou's best friends. All of us are from the same batch.

'We asked Xiao-ou how much her family can afford to pay for her treatment. She said about $40,000 to $50,000.'

How did her friends manage to collect over $100,000 in such a short time?

They opened three booths at NUS - in the engineering and science faculties and one just outside the central library - to collect donations. The booths will be open today and tomorrow.

They have also opened an Internet portal that will continue to collect donations after the booths close.

Committee more efficient

Mr Zhao and some others decided to get together to raise money after learning of her family's financial constraints.

'When you have a committee to do this kind of work, it's more efficient,' he said.

He kicked things off by posting an entry on his personal blog, which he said is read by many students from China wherever they may be studying.

'That was how the news spread,' he said.

They then set up a blog dedicated to Xiao-ou and the fund-raising efforts.

In the first three days of fund-raising, from 11Mar to 13 Mar, they collected more than $70,000 in cash and cheques from students and lecturers at the booths.

Another $30,000 came from Internet donations over the same period.

Said Mr Zhao: 'People are very generous... All we can do is tell them what has happened to Xiao-ou.'

To show people that Xiao-ou's case is genuine, a letter from NUH, dated 8 Mar, about her condition is posted on the website.

There is also a bank letter from DBS, he said. Later, all transactions will be shown online, said Mr Zhao.

'When we collect money at the booths, there will always be at least two people manning it. One will be from our committee and one will be third party, a representative from either the NUS Chinese Society or the students' union. This is to show that we are above board,' he said.

The biggest single amount received so far is a cheque for $3,000 from a former student, a China national who graduated from NUS.

Some, such as NUS lecturers, wrote out $1,000 cheques. Others gave amounts ranging from $2 to $50.

There were also China students from the Nanyang Technological University who travelled to NUS to donate money.

'I've even received calls from (Singapore) junior college students from China who want to donate,' said Mr Zhao.

Mr Kuan Yee Han, 24, president of the National University of Singapore Students' Union said it was heartening to see the NUS community coming together to help one of their students.

He said: 'We sent e-mails to all current students of NUS. Some of them who are overseas on exchange programmes have e-mailed me to ask how they can donate.'

The students' union is helping the committee with administrative work. All the donations will be handled by the students' union and placed in an NUS account.

'We will continue to raise funds until April. Our target amount is $400,000. If we don't achieve that by April, we'll think of what to do next,' said Mr Kuan.

Xiao-ou has undergone the first course of chemotherapy at NUH.

Her mother has flown in from China to be with her.

Said Mr Zhao: 'Xiao-ou is an only child and her mother is devastated. Xiao-ou has also just started her treatment. They are not ready to speak to the press yet.'

To find out more about Miss Zhang's condition, go to www.blessxiaoou.net

The letter from the NUH registrar is at the bottom of the item entitled 'Save her life, save her dream', under the section 'Announcements'.

This article was first published in The New Paper.