TWO vision-impaired young men are regaining eyesight after late Chinese pop singer Yao Beina, who lost her battle with breast cancer in a Shenzhen hospital Friday afternoon, had her corneas transplanted to them over the weekend.

    Yao, who died of breast cancer in Peking University Shenzhen Hospital at the age of 33, became the 964th cornea donor in Shenzhen after her father, Yao Feng, acted for her Jan. 9 to sign a will of donation.

    According to her will, the corneas will be donated to patients in Sichuan Province, Wuhan in Hubei Province and Shenzhen.

    The first recipient was a 26-year-old Shenzhen man called Dai Feng, who received an operation on his left eye seven hours after Yao died. Dai, a native of Hunan Province, has worked in Shenzhen for three years in the electronics industry.

    He said he had gained his sight back after the surgery and is recovering. Dai, a fan of Yao, hoped to have a chance to participate in Yao’s funeral service, which will be held at 9:30 a.m. at Shenzhen Funeral Home tomorrow.

    On Saturday, another piece of her corneas was transplanted to Dong Liang, a 23-year-old man from Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in a Chengdu hospital in Sichuan Province.

    Doctors said yesterday that Dong’s left eye has regained eyesight and will become better in the future.

    The rest of her corneas will be donated to a patient in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, the city where Yao was born, according to her will.

    Yao, who sang the theme song for the Chinese version of the TV drama “The Back Palace: Legend of Zhen Huan,” became famous in China after she showed up as a contestant in the reality talent show “The Voice of China” in 2013.

    Her death has brought breast cancer awareness to the spotlight again, following American actress Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo a mastectomy.(Han Ximin)

    (More on P3)