(Minghui.org) While visiting a friend in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, a woman from Shaoyang, Hunan Province (about 440 miles away) was arrested along with her host. Their only “crime” was practicing Falun Gong, a self-cultivation system being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party.

The arrest of Ms. Liu Aihua (刘爱华) on November 10, 2012 was her eighth since the persecution began in 1999. She was sentenced to four years by Xiangzhou District Court in Zhuhai on April 10, 2014, and transferred to Guangdong Province Women's Prison four months later.

Ms. Liu's family received a “notification of illness” from the prison on October 30, 2014. The notification stated that Ms. Liu had been diagnosed with hypertension, type two diabetes, thyroid adenoma (overgrowth of normal thyroid tissue) and gallstones.

Her family couldn't understand why the prison didn't inform them of Ms. Liu's illness earlier, since the notification was issued by doctors on September 30.

Ms. Liu's family met with obstacles after traveling from Hunan to Guangzhou to see her. The prison gave them a hard time before eventually allowing Ms. Liu's daughter to see her. According to the daughter, Ms. Liu looked emaciated.

Before the meeting, three prison guards tried to convince the daughter that Ms. Liu's illnesses were not that severe. They claimed that her “third-degree” hypertension was not so bad when compared to “first-degree” hypertension, and that she was being cared for in prison.

Ms. Liu's daughter searched online after the meeting and realized that her mother's hypertension and other ailments were actually quite severe. The family is now extremely concerned about Ms. Liu's health and the lack of proper medical attention.