EDITOR’S note:
President Xi Jinping has urged everyone to follow their hearts rather than chase money or position. This series introduces Shanghai residents who pour their hearts and souls into their chosen work, whether they are designing rockets, practicing medicine or caring for the less fortunate.

Years have passed, but Qin Jing still cannot truly let go of her emotions when talking about her husband Wu Heng’s two cell donations.

Lack of exercise and multiple surgeries to repair congenital foot deformities had weakened Wu’s body. Nevertheless, he donated cells twice to save the life of a young man battling leukemia.

“He has foot problems, and he gets sick frequently,” Qin said. “I didn’t want him to take the risk, but I decided to respect his choice.”

“Don’t say that,” Wu said, looking at her with a sheepish grin. “See, I’m fine now.”

He said it is his biggest wish to help save someone’s life, because warm-hearted people are always there to help when he gets stuck.

“I want to repay the society, and I’m glad that my family is always by my side,” Wu said. “What touched me the most is that my wife was also inspired to join the China Marrow Donor Program, which I think is the biggest support.”

Wu was born in a village in suburban Jinshan District in 1982 with an internally rotated foot, for which he has had to have medical treatment for as long as he can remember.

“I had surgeries almost every year until I was in grade 8 in middle school,” he said. “Once when I was about 6 or 7 years old, I got an infection after surgery and it really hurt. Neighbors and clinicians in my village cared and helped me a lot. I felt so grateful.”

Since then, he made up his mind to offer a helping hand to others, and he has been true to his word.

Over the past 15 years, Wu has been helping underprivileged groups, including heirless seniors, poverty-stricken families and people with disabilities in Jinshan’s industrial quarter.

In March 2014, he became a member of the China Marrow Donor Program but did not hear anything for more than three years. The highly anticipated call finally came in April 2017, one month after he was promoted to deputy director of the local Zhuhang neighborhood committee.

“You are match for a leukemia patient. Do you agree to donate your stem cells,” asked someone from the Red Cross Society of China Shanghai branch.

He did not hesitate to say yes.

Wu still cannot contain his excitement thinking about the moment when he picked up the phone.

“I felt it was predestined,” he said. “I never really expected to be someone’s match. One may find only one match out of hundreds of thousands of people. It’s a real blessing. I found out the patient is a 25-year-old man who was experiencing the same kind of pain I went through during childhood. He’s just graduated and life has just begun. I want to lend him a hand.”

A week later, Wu drove nearly 70 kilometers from the countryside to downtown to receive blood tests. He was informed of the good news a week later. He was very pleased but also afraid.

“I hadn’t told anyone before,” he said. “I was worried that my parents and wife would challenge me. Unexpectedly, I didn’t have to spend much time persuading them.”

Instead, his mother, who has donated blood more than 30 times since 1994, encouraged him to do it. She even worried about what would happen if her son failed the physical examination and couldn’t make the donation.

“Chemotherapy causes great pain, so we shouldn’t let the young man wait for long,” she said to him.

Fortunately, he passed the physical.

On August 4, 2017, accompanied by his immediate family, he went to Huashan Hospital. As preparation, he received a four-day “mobilization,” the process where stem cells are stimulated out of bone marrow into the bloodstream for collection.

“After I received the first injection, I didn’t suffer any side effects,” he said. “So, I said to my wife: ‘We rarely come downtown. Let’s go shopping on Nanjing Road after dinner.’ However, when I got off the Metro train, my entire body started to ache and we had to hurry back to the hospital.”

Seeing him lying in bed feeling unwell, his son, who was only 4 years old at the time, asked Qin: “Is dad sick?” She struggled to hold back the tears and told him: “Dad is fine. He’s saving someone else.”

“My son’s eyes lit up,” Qin said. “He quietly kept his dad company.”

Wu also remembers the moment. “I just felt stronger than ever,” he said.

Four days later, he donated 304 millimeters of stem cells, becoming the 383rd stem cell donor in Shanghai. The blood cells were immediately sent to Shanghai General Hospital to be transplanted.

“It’s really worth doing,” he said. “I hope people can understand that it doesn’t damage their health. It’s just a simple and accessible good deed.”

Thanks to his donation, the leukemia patient gradually recovered. However, after two years of remission, his cancer reappeared. Again, the Red Cross came to Wu. This time, he was asked to donate lymphocytes that could improve the patient’s immune system.

“If I refused, my first donation would have been meaningless,” Wu said. “He was waiting for me, and I felt our fates were intertwined. I had to do it for him again.”

Lying on the same bed in Huashan Hospital, Wu donated 85 millimeters of lymphocytes, becoming the city’s seventh second-time donor.

“It took only three hours, because I didn’t need to go through the four-day mobilization,” he said. “I wasn’t nervous and didn’t feel any pain. After the procedure, I felt a little bit weak but quickly recovered.”

Wu is now part of a local volunteer group that promotes stem cell donations.

The group has 44 members, all of whom have successfully donated stem cells.

“We set up stalls in neighborhoods and office buildings to promote stem cell donations based on our own experiences,” he said. “Many people have been inspired to join us. In Jinshan alone, more than 8,400 people have joined the China Marrow Donor Program.”

Zhu Hui, Wu’s classmate and colleague, is also a member of the group.

“I donated stem cells in 2016, and Wu drove me to the hospital,” Zhu said. “I had extracted bone marrow when I was 5 years old and had a serious illness, so I’ve always wanted to help others who are going through a similar experience.”

When she learned a 5-year-old boy needed help, she felt it was her destiny to help him.

“After receiving my stem cells, his blood type turned from A to AB, and now his taste is very much like mine. It’s so amazing,” Zhu said.

“We hope to inspire more people to join us,” Wu said. “I believe that warmth and love can be passed on.”