On August 27, in the hematopoietic stem cell collection room of Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, a bag of bright red hematopoietic stem cell suspension was successfully collected from Chen Jiemin's body. It is set to cross borders, bringing renewed hope to a blood disease patient she has never met.
Chen Jiemin, an ordinary employee of the Longwan Town People's Government in Luoding, Yunfu, Guangdong, is the city's first unrelated foreign-oriented hematopoietic stem cell donor. She is also the 18th donor from Yunfu and the 20,933rd donor in China.
As soon as she turned 18, Chen registered without hesitation to become a volunteer in the China Marrow Donor Program. "I didn't overthink it at the time. It just felt like something I could do to help others," Chen recalled.
The success rate for unrelated matching is extremely low, often only one in 100,000 or even one in a million. In late May, a call from the Red Cross Society of Luoding City informed her that her HLA typing had preliminarily matched with a patient and asked if she was willing to donate.
"I was a little surprised as I never thought I'd actually match," she said. She didn't agree immediately but carefully inquired about the entire process and details, especially the impact on her health, and discussed it with her family.
After learning that the donation process was similar to an enhanced version of blood donation, her family said, "Since it doesn't harm your health, we fully support it." That same day, Chen replied with her consent to donate.
Subsequently, Chen underwent a series of procedures, including high-resolution matching and a comprehensive health checkup.
On August 22, accompanied by staff from the Red Cross Society of Luoding City, Chen arrived in Guangzhou and began receiving mobilizer injections for four consecutive days. "The whole process wasn't as scary as I imagined. It felt similar to donating blood," she said. On the day of the donation, she lay on the collection bed for four hours while her blood was drawn from one side, separated by a machine to collect stem cells, and returned to her body. Throughout the process, a volunteer, Sister Juan, stayed by her side, reassuring her.
Editor | Liao Ying (intern), Huang Qini, James Campion, Shen He
