Liu poses a photo in the airport of Sichuan on June 17.(Photo/www.newssc.org)
By the time Liu Mulin's flight from Beijing had landed in Sichuan Province, southwest China, on Wednesday afternoon, his hemopoietic stem cells (HSCs) had already arrived in Australia.
At the airport, he told Xinhua that he felt "comfortable and good", even though he had just spent six hours hooked up to an apheresis machine that siphoned his blood to collect the stem cells, before pumping it back in.
Liu, 36, was born in Deyang City, Sichuan. He signed up to be a stem cell donor in November 2013 after both his father and younger brother fell seriously ill. He said that made him realize how fragile and precious life was.
"One time when I was donating blood, I saw a brochure for stem cell donation and volunteered, naturally," He said.
On March 4, Liu's human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type matched an Australian patient. The China Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) quickly contacted Liu, who said he was "utterly surprised".
Liu knew nothing about the donation procedure or if there would be any side effects. He was a bit hesitant, but after a brief half-hour Internet search, he replied with a yes.
Before the donation, Lui flew to Beijing to receive his daily injection of bone marrow mobilizer, which causes the body to release more stem cells into the blood, at the Air Force General Hospital of People's Liberation Army (PLA).
After five days of the mobilizer, on June 16, Liu's stem cells were collected and sent to Australia immediately.
"Though I haven't seen the patient, I am glad that I can help," Liu said. "It is destiny that ties us together."
According to Chen Liqiang, director of CMDP Sichuan branch, the success rate of stem cells matches is extremely low -- somewhere between one in 10,000 and one in 400.
There were two million potential donors registered with the CMDP as of January, putting China in fourth worldwide, after the United States, Germany and Brazil.
By the end of 2014, China had performed transplants of hemopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for 4,680 patients at home and overseas, according to the CMDP.
Established in 1992, the CMDP now has 31 provincial-level branches, 30 HLA typing laboratories, six HLA high-resolution confirmatory typing laboratories and one quality control laboratory. It also collaborates with more than 100 hospitals in China.
Liu was China's 200th successful donation to foreign patients and the third in his province.
