Eastern Taiwan Tour - Love with PX Mart

There are about 350 families with rare diseases (RD) in Hualien and Taitung. However, due to the limited medical resources in the eastern region as well as the geographical factors, it is difficult for patients there to have the opportunity to interact with patients from other regions. This year, TFRD cooperated with the Pxmart Pei Hua Dream Social Welfare Foundation and PX Mart to organize a two-day-one-night trip to Hualien.

We invited 10 patients (eight types of diseases) from the northern region to meet with the patients in Hualien. On March 13, we went to the Marasan hunter school to experience the traditional Amis archery, hand-made bamboo rice, and primitive traps. We also dressed up in Amis costumes and tasted millet wine together.

There are several players coming from single-parent or inter-generational families as well as nursery schools on Stella Maris Ursuline High School (SMHS) basketball team. They have ever received support from many charities. When they heard that we were in Hualien, they recruited 20 teachers and students to do a special basketball workshop for us. The parents said emotionally that they had never expected their child to play so happily despite having a rare disease.

In the afternoon, we went to Qixingtan Beach to join the coastal clean-up. The Pxmart Mobile Supermarket Truck had been waiting for us before we arrived. They offered the children their favorite milk and bread to cheer them on. As the first quarter of TFRD's 2021 small change donation campaign in collaboration with PX Mart drew to a close, the SMHS players and RD kids were also on hand to call on the community residents to donate their small changes. Everyone had an unforgettable and meaningful trip.

Translator: David Lee (Becker Muscular Dystrophy)