Tang Xiaoyan may have to delay his trip to Singapore for a bone marrow transplant after someone stole the money he planned to use to pay for the expensive procedure.

The 29-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago and needs the transplant to live.

His brother-in-law was carrying 100,000 yuan (US$12,345) to pay Tang's medical bills when he stopped at the Shanghai Entry-Exit Administrative Bureau on last Friday afternoon. The brother-in-law put a plastic bag containing the cash on a table while filling out an application form for Tang to leave the country.

When he was finished with the form, the bag was gone.

Tang's family spent hours watching surveillance video of the scene yesterday, but did not find any valuable clues.

"In spite of the videos, we can not decide who to suspect," said Tang Xiaojuan, the patient's sister. "Even if we were suspicious about someone on the tape, how could police locate the person based on such a vague picture?"

According to the sister, the family were informed by the China Stem Cell Donors Information Bank in August that they found a marrow match for Tang, who is a citizen of Singapore.

As a marrow transplant is the only effective measure to cure Tang's illness, his family started to raise money for the treatment.

"My husband arrived at local Entry-Exit Administrative Bureau at about 3:00 PM that day with the money," the sister said.

After he noticed the bag was missing, he quickly called police, but there was nothing they could do.

"We called local newspaper agents and TV stations for assistance in the hope that the money could be returned," said the woman.

"We would like to offer a considerable amount of cash as a reward to anyone who can provide information or help recover the money," she said.

(Shenzhen Daily February 14, 2006)