A young girl from a rural family has died after a battle with eye cancer, and adding to her family's misfortune, they found themselves engulfed in an online controversy as to whether the donations of internet supporters were misused. 

Last September, Wang Fengya, from Taikang county, Henan province, was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare and malignant intraocular cancer normally occurring in young children. Her family could not afford the recommended treatment and so in October turned to internet charity platforms for help. 

In one video made for charity fundraising purposes, the girl is shown turning to her mother, visibly in pain, and saying simply "help me." The scene evoked powerful responses from the public.

On May 4, after eight months, the 3-year-old girl lost her fight against the disease. However, shortly thereafter, a rumor that the Wang family may have misused the donations raised online started to surface.

Yang Meiqin, 32, is the mother of four daughters, including Wang Fengya, and one son, who has cheilopalatognathus, also known as harelip. As early as April, volunteers shared on the internet that Wang's parents had given up on their daughter. Later, a story entitled "The Death of Wang Fengya" was widely circulated online, accusing Yang of raising 150,000 yuan (US$23,470) in donations from internet users by exploiting her seriously ill daughter, and then instead using the money on treatment for her son in Beijing. 

The news triggered a wave of angry responses, but then local police reported on May 24 after an investigation that they believe most of the money was indeed used for Wang Fengya. They estimated the total donations to the family have equaled 38,638 yuan (US$6,050), far less than the rumored 150,000 yuan, which was in fact the goal the family set but failed to reach. The crowdsource funding platform Shuidichou has verified the amount.

Wang Fengya's grandfather gave the remaining 1,301 yuan donation (US$203) to a local charity organization on May 25, the police said.

The mother has said the family took a conservative approach to treatment suggested by doctors because the cancer was already in the terminal stage, local news media outlets reported on Sunday. Yang added that she would have taken her daughter to Beijing and Zhengzhou, but that no hospitals had available wards for the girl. She also said that the volunteers who later accused her did little in terms of making useful arrangements, but rather posed for some photos and then disappeared.

As for Wang Fengya's brother, his treatment for harelip took place last April, months before Wang Fengya's cancer diagnosis. The Beijing SmileAngel Children's Hospital, China's first charity hospital for children, offered treatment to Yang's son for free. "There is no way we could have misused the donations," the children's grandfather said. 

The local government has said Yang Meiqin has been overwhelmed by the recent internet uproar, including verbal abuse, and that now the young mother has turned to psychologists for help. The family also stated they would pursue lawsuits against those who spread harmful rumors about the family, according to The Beijing News.

Shuidichou also released details related to Wang Fengya's crowdsourcing fund on Sunday, and has said it will better control risks and strengthen its supervision of charity fund usage in the future by monitoring the progress of patients' treatment. 

"Shuidichou will continue following up on the development of the case and assisting the investigation by government departments, " their statement said, "We will spare no efforts to protect every caring heart and to help every patient's family. "

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