Doctor donates hematopoietic stem cells to save 4-year-old boy
2022-11-08 20:11:37
"Coming across you is the greatest luck of our lifetime. Your blood will run in my son’s vein, and I look forward to the day when we meet in the future. My child could say to you in person: 'Thank you, my father whom I have never met!'."
Wang Gang, a hepatobiliary surgeon at the People's Hospital of Changyang County, Yichang City, recently received this hand-written thank-you letter from the mother of his stem-cell donation recipient. He read it while receiving the last round of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor injections at the Central Hospital of Wuhan.
The injection works to “mobilize” large quantities of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow into the peripheral circulation, so that they can be collected through the arm vein. During the following three hours, 180 ml of fluid containing hematopoietic stem cells was drawn out of Wang’s body. In a few hours, these stem cells would be transferred to a remote city to give a four-year old boy a new lease on life.
Wang signed up to be a voluntary donor for the China Bone Marrow Donor Program on August 10, 2020. On May 8, his was told that his stem cells had been matched with a patient. He agreed without second thought: "I'll to do whatever necessary and will do my best to help." In the past five days, he went to the Central Hospital of Wuhan each day to receive two doses of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, to prepare for the donation.
The staff members of the Bone Marrow Bank of Red Cross Society China Hubei Branch visited him at the hospital to thank him for his great love and kindness, presenting him with a medal and a certificate of honor.
They urged more people to join the cell donation program. There have been 1 million hematopoietic stem cell transplants done in the world so far, which have proved it is safe, scientific, and free of harm. Due to the low match rate of unrelated donors, a large bank of hematopoietic stem cells should be established. They called for more attention and support for this project.
The injection works to “mobilize” large quantities of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow into the peripheral circulation, so that they can be collected through the arm vein. During the following three hours, 180 ml of fluid containing hematopoietic stem cells was drawn out of Wang’s body. In a few hours, these stem cells would be transferred to a remote city to give a four-year old boy a new lease on life.
Wang signed up to be a voluntary donor for the China Bone Marrow Donor Program on August 10, 2020. On May 8, his was told that his stem cells had been matched with a patient. He agreed without second thought: "I'll to do whatever necessary and will do my best to help." In the past five days, he went to the Central Hospital of Wuhan each day to receive two doses of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, to prepare for the donation.
The staff members of the Bone Marrow Bank of Red Cross Society China Hubei Branch visited him at the hospital to thank him for his great love and kindness, presenting him with a medal and a certificate of honor.
They urged more people to join the cell donation program. There have been 1 million hematopoietic stem cell transplants done in the world so far, which have proved it is safe, scientific, and free of harm. Due to the low match rate of unrelated donors, a large bank of hematopoietic stem cells should be established. They called for more attention and support for this project.
