BEIJING, Dec. 16 -- The China Foundation for Disabled Persons (CFDP) is expanding its assistance to children with cerebral palsy (CP) by establishing a special "DeerKids" relief fund in Beijing on Friday.

DeerKids plans to fund at least 20 poverty-stricken families with children suffering from the mental illness each year. Under these new guidelines, every such child will receive 4,000 yuan (US$654) every month to help with their medical expenses and living allowances.

The fund's initiator, Ms. Jia Li, said her daughter's recovery from CP has prompted her into launching the fund in alliance with CFDP so that "more poverty-stricken families with CP children to will feel the warmth of sunshine."

"A cerebral palsy child will cause the family [to pay] a medical bill between 3,000 and 7,000 yuan (US$494-1,153) each month, meaning at least 500,000 yuan (US$82,388) throughout the child lifetime - an extremely heavy financial burden for any normal family, let alone those struggling to make ends meet," said Jia, whose donation of 5 million yuan (US$823,723) will set the relief fund into motion.

Some 6 million people in China are suffering from CP, including 2 million aged between zero and two. This figure is set to increase by 40,000 to 50,000 each year, given CP's incidence rate of 5 in 1000, with around 10 million newborn babies each year.