Abandoned in China when she was only 10 days old, the little girl was adopted from an orphanage when she was one. Kailee Wells is now six and fighting a disease that is drying up her blood. Her desperate mother is planning campaigns in Vancouver and Toronto as she embarks on a "Life or death journey around the world to save little Kailee"

She was only 10 days old when they abandoned her on the steps of a teacher training college in the town of Changde, in China's poverty stricken central province of Hunan.

Known first as Changban - "Never Alone" - she spent her first year in a local orphanage before being adopted by Owen and Linda Wells.

Kailee Wells, now six, is desperately sick with a bone marrow disease, aplastic anaemia, which prevents the supply of new blood cells and eventually causes the body's supply of blood to dry up.

For the past year she has been kept alive through blood transfusions, chemotherapy and steroids, but Kailee will die within months unless a compatible bone marrow donor is found. Patients with severe aplastic anaemia can also die anytime by bleeding from a small cut, internal bleeding or infection.

Doctors have searched among 9 million donors in medical databases throughout the world without success.

The best hope, they say, is to look among Kailee's blood relatives, where the chances of compatibility among a sibling rise to one in four.

But nobody knows who Kailee's biological parents are.

This week Linda Wells of Albuquerque, New Mexico left for China as part of a world tour to find a donor who could save her daughter's life.

As his wife was packing, Owen Wells told The Asian Pacific Post that the odds are long but the family, including their other three children are not giving up hope.

"We hope to be in Vancouver and Toronto to hold donor campaigns after China and Hawaii," he said.

While Kailee's best chances lie in China, Wells said the large Chinese population in B.C. and Ontario could also 'provide a miracle.'

"On the outside she looks fine but inside she is slipping away," said Wells.

Kailee's chances of finding a donor in Canada is bolstered by the fact that hundreds of adopted Chinese babies arrive in the country every year.

Last year, 771 Chinese babies arrived in Canada, of which 64 were adopted in B.C.

Several thousand Chinese babies and infants are adopted by foreigners each year through legal channels.

Many of the babies are abandoned just because they are female, or because their parents have violated China's one child policy.

Illegitimacy is also stigmatised.

Linda Well's world tour to save her daughter begins this week in Changde, China where Kailee was found abandoned.

This is her second trip Changde to appeal to the local people and search for a compatible donor among China's 1.3 billion people.

The case has already touched Chinese hearts and swept aside the normal bureaucracy.

An unprecedented publicity campaign has been launched by the Red Cross Society of China.

The organisation has splashed the search for a bone marrow match across the country's newspapers and television screens and made a concerted effort to get Kailee's biological parents to come forward.

After China, Linda Wells heads to Hawaii where with the help of Starbucks and Bose she will hold a donor drive.

She also has planned stops in Canada, India, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, England, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand in her quest for a donor.

While Linda Wells scours the world for a miracle to save her daughter, her husband will be looking after Kailee and raising donations.

A bone marrow drive and a chance to win a 2004 Corvette this week in New Mexico are among the latest efforts to help Kailee.

The money raised from the raffle will help the family with medical expenses.

"If she doesn't make it we want to be sure we did everything to save her life," said Wells.

He appealed to Canadians, especially those of Chinese origin to register with their local bone marrow registry.

"Even if you cannot help Kailee, you may be able to save a life somewhere in the world," he said.

That has already come true in New Mexico where an Albuquerque woman who was tested to see if her bone marrow would help Kailee found she's the perfect candidate for another eight-year-old child.

For more information on how you can help, visit their website at www.kaileegetwells.com.