Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

TWO young men became Shenzhen’s 438th and 439th hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) donors by donating at the Second People’s Hospital of Shenzhen on the seventh World Marrow Donor Day on Saturday.

HSCs are stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. They are found in adults’ bone marrow and are used to treat blood diseases such as leukemia.

With 439 donations, Shenzhen boasts the largest number of successful HSC donations in China. Thirteen citizens made HSC donations this month alone, data from the Shenzhen Blood Center showed.

Huang Jian, a staff member from Lenovo Group, was one of the two HSC donors. He has donated blood five times and joined the China Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) in 2007. He was successfully matched with a female leukemia patient in Tianjin Municipality on July 14.

Huang, who is in his 40s, said that he was initially worried about donating because of his age, but the city’s blood center and its volunteer team gave him a lot of support throughout the process.

The other HSC donor, Kang Lyu, has donated blood 16 times and joined the CMDP in 2009. Kang was matched with a male leukemia patient in Beijing in early August this year.

Kang said about this HSC donation, “It’s the same as an ordinary blood donation. In fact, there’s nothing special about it, but it’s good as long as it can help others.”

According to the city’s blood center, a citizen who is interested in joining in the CMDP to become an HSC donor only needs to apply by filling out a voluntary HSC donation registration form while donating blood.

The CMDP, established in 1992, is a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Red Cross Society of China, and has registered 53,491 HSC donors from Shenzhen so far.