After Li Jie lifted the height limit of the hovercar, he adjusted the distance between the car and the ground to 50 meters. This way, they could completely avoid the congested traffic in New York City.
This was no longer a car on the road, but flying at a low altitude. Especially when they were flying at a low altitude of 300 kilometers per hour, and they didn't have to worry about the traffic lights.
In less than seven minutes, Li Jie and Thor flew from the southern suburbs of New York to Almond Central Hospital in Manhattan.
"Her condition isn't very good." After sending Penny to the emergency room, Christine used her connections in the hospital to look up Penny's previous medical records.
This was not the first time she had an episode. It was just that Christine didn't know Penny before, and she didn't know she had a patient. After reading through Penny's previous medical report, she said to Thor and Li Jie with a bad expression.
"What's wrong with this girl?" Li Jie had already roughly learned about Penny on the way here. He knew that this child was one of the 50 children Thor was currently looking after.
Thor's expression was not very good, so Li Jie asked on his behalf, "Why did this girl named Penny suddenly faint? There were no signs. "
"Because of a congenital disease." Christine found an empty lounge for everyone to sit down and talk. She pulled out a medical record and a CT image from Penny's personal information.
"When I was looking up the information just now, I found out that Penny was a patient of this hospital. The hospital has her records, and she came to the hospital for a checkup in the past few years. The person who took her for the checkup was her father. But she hasn't been here for more than half a year. "
Thor understood why. He said, "Maybe because she was arrested after committing a crime? Most of the parents of children in Area 2A are like this. If her father was arrested, then no one would take her to the hospital for a checkup. "
"So what congenital disease is it?" Li Jie glanced at Thor. He felt that this was not the time to talk about plans with him. At this time, he needed to care about the child.
"Congenital neurological dysplasia." Christine pointed to a CT scan image and said, "When Penny was born, her brain and spine were compressed, causing her brainstem and spine nerve dysplasia."
"The first episode should have been when she was three years old. Her father must have sent her to New York Central Hospital. Because it was a neurological disease, she was transferred to our hospital. "Almond Central Hospital was the best hospital in the neurological field.
"This kind of neurological dysplasia is very difficult to control. Some people will gradually get better as they grow older, but some people will not get better." Christine sighed.
"This is like a ticking time bomb. No one knows if it will explode or not. The brainstem and spinal nerves were the most important central nervous system in the human body. They controlled most of the organs and limbs in the human body. Even thinking. If it can't be cured, then the consequences will be very serious. "
Li Jie and Thor had already understood the meaning of Christine's words. Li Jie's mouth unconsciously chewed twice, then he said in a not very good tone, "What's the worst outcome?"
"Paralysis for life, the kind of high paraplegia. Or brain death, or become a vegetable. " Christine said dryly, "Even if you want to cure it with surgery, the risk is extremely high. And the cost of the surgery will also be astronomical. Half a million dollars is already the most conservative estimate, and it may be even higher. Penny, she … "
Christine shook her head as she spoke. She did not continue. But everyone knew what she was going to say next. Even if Penny's father was not arrested, he would not be able to afford this amount of money. This was a large sum of money, and for most middle-class families in the United States, it was too high to bear the cost of the surgery. Moreover, Christine had estimated it at a low price. Perhaps the actual cost would be higher than what she said.
Li Jie sucked in a breath of cold air. A six-year-old girl was sentenced to the worst outcome of her life just like that? But her life had not even really begun!
And Thor was still holding the two candies that Penny had given him in his hand. He moved the stiff muscles on his face. Then he looked at Li Jie and said, "Can you lend me some money?"
Li Jie knew what Thor wanted to do. He nodded and said, "Of course, no problem."
For the first time, Thor showed a trace of gratitude to Li Jie. He turned his head to look at Christine and said, "Then Christine, can you please arrange the surgery as soon as possible through the hospital?"
Christine glanced at Li Jie. She knew that Li Jie had a comic company, and the sales had been rising. Li Jie's annual income from the comic company alone was very impressive.
Li Jie was not a person who cared much about money, so if he was willing to pay, then the basic whereabouts of the surgery would be settled. But some surgeries could not be done with money.
"This surgery is very difficult, Jason. It is very likely that your hundreds of thousands of dollars will go down the drain. " Christine first reminded Li Jie, "This surgery requires the surgeon to cut off the dysplastic nerves in Penny's brain stem and spine, and then reconnect them. The success rate of this kind of surgery is not high. Also, Penny is so young, so the risk of surgery is very high. I'm afraid that ordinary doctors would not dare to operate on her. "
Li Jie touched his chin and suddenly thought of the new technology that the Osborne Group was working on, which was also related to nerves. Compared with limb regrowth, nerve regrowth was more complicated and sophisticated.
Now, the Osborne Group's limb regrowth project, which was a derivative project of the nerve regeneration project, still had flaws.
"For example, reflexes, explosive force, and so on. Previously, the company performed this kind of surgery on a former world track and field champion who had a car accident. Although he could run and jump after the surgery, there was no way for him to return to his original state. "Li Jie briefly explained the advantages and disadvantages of the surgery.
"He can only move at the level of a normal person. It is impossible for him to be a 200-meter runner like he was before. Furthermore, their flexibility would be greatly reduced. You can say that you've turned from a flying person to a mortal. "
Thor and Kristin looked at each other, and Kristin said, "I think it might work for little Penny. If she didn't have the ambition to become a world-class flyer or the world's top pianist in the future, she would have been able to do it. There was nothing wrong with living happily as an ordinary person. Her life has just begun. "
Thor agreed with Li Jie's suggestion. He planned to ask Pan Ni for her opinion after she woke up from the emergency room.
However, Li Jie thought of something else. He frowned and said, "But there's another problem."
"What?" Thor glanced at Li Jie.
"Nerve regeneration technology is essentially very similar to the regeneration of severed limbs. It requires the original nerves to be removed and injected with a special drug to allow the tempered nerves to regrow in a normal and healthy way. However, it requires the original nerves to be removed without damaging other parts. This technique is very difficult, "Li Jie said.
"At present, there is only one doctor who can guarantee the success rate of this type of surgery at the Osborne Group, and that is the external consultant doctor, Steve Strange." Li Jie shook his head.
"The Osborne Group and Strange only signed an external consultant agreement. We can't force him to treat a patient. He has the right to choose whether to accept or not. As for Strange's personality, I think you two, especially Dr. Kristin. Especially Dr. Christen, she should know better than I do. "Li Jie waved his hand.
"He never does surgery that he's not confident in, and you just said how difficult Penny's surgery is."
The entire resting room fell into silence.
Suddenly, Li Jie heard the sound of plastic packaging being torn open. It turned out that Thor had torn open the plastic packaging of the two candies in his hand. The candies, which had melted in his palm, were thrown into Thor's mouth. One was fruit candy, and the other was toffee. The mixed taste was not very good. It was strange.
Thor casually crumpled the candy wrapper into a ball and threw it on the ground. He stood up and prepared to go out.
"Thor, Penny's emergency treatment won't be over so soon. Wait here for now." Kristin thought that Thor was going to see Penny.
"No, I'm not going to see Penny. I just want to talk to someone. "Thor's tone was not very emotional.
However, Li Jie heard a hint of unease in his tone. He asked, "Who?"
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