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- Type 1
It's an astonishing act of human generosity - one man donating his stem cells to a total stranger living on the other side of the world.
A man working as a driver in Shanghai registered for a stem cell registration drive through his workplace, thinking little would come of it. Shortly after, he received word that his stem cells had been matched, to a boy in England. The needy recipient is just seven years old.
The driver, Jiang Yongfeng, agreed to the donation without hesitation.
"I was very surprised. I was so excited to get a match so soon. Fate was knocking on my door," he says. "When I learned the boy was only born in 2007, I was even more confident I made the right decision."
It's a good thing Mr Jiang was so eager. Those needing stem cell transplants to treat cancer or other immune diseases must find a donor with near identical genes. In reality, that means the matched pair must have the same ethnic background so the immune cells of the donor and recipient work in tandem.
That small percentage makes the long-distance match between Jiang Yongfeng and the little boy something akin to a medical miracle.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-china-blog-30885546
A man working as a driver in Shanghai registered for a stem cell registration drive through his workplace, thinking little would come of it. Shortly after, he received word that his stem cells had been matched, to a boy in England. The needy recipient is just seven years old.
The driver, Jiang Yongfeng, agreed to the donation without hesitation.
"I was very surprised. I was so excited to get a match so soon. Fate was knocking on my door," he says. "When I learned the boy was only born in 2007, I was even more confident I made the right decision."
It's a good thing Mr Jiang was so eager. Those needing stem cell transplants to treat cancer or other immune diseases must find a donor with near identical genes. In reality, that means the matched pair must have the same ethnic background so the immune cells of the donor and recipient work in tandem.
That small percentage makes the long-distance match between Jiang Yongfeng and the little boy something akin to a medical miracle.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-china-blog-30885546