Chinese girl's stem cell donation story becomes instant hit

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A Chinese girl became an instant celebrity on Chinese social media after a post about her experience of making a lifesaving hematopoietic stem cell donation was widely circulated online.

28-year-old Xu Aifei from east China’s Fuyang City rose to stardom over the past two days, as a story she posted on Sina Weibo of doing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) donor became an unexpected hit, amassing almost 120,000 thumbs-up from supportive netizens.

Sina Weibo screenshot

Sina Weibo Photo

“My Weibo account gained tens of thousands of new fans all of a sudden, and my phone was being ‘bombarded’ by caring friends…the publicity really puzzled me,” Xu told Hangzhou Daily, a local newspaper.

Xu said she meant the experience to be kept in a personal diary as “most people may never experience a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as a donor and even if they do, it’s a once in a lifetime experience."

A regular blood donor, Xu registered into Chinese Bone Marrow Bank as a volunteer in 2009 while making a donation. She received a call from Zhejiang’s marrow databank four months ago, telling her that she was a suitable match for a 15-year-old boy diagnosed with AML-m7 megakaryocytic leukemia, a rare blood cancer, from north China’s Tianjin Municipality, the possibility of which was only one in 100,000.

Xu consented, and since then started cycling on a daily basis, to get herself ready for the transplantation.

She drove herself to Zhejiang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Hangzhou City last Friday, where the stem cell transplantation is scheduled to take place.

Xu was given three days’ injection of hemopoietic stem cell mobilizer before the HSCT process: “My arms have been pricked into hornets' nest, my bones ached,” Xu wrote on her Weibo account.

Sina Weibo Photo

Then came the lengthy transplantation, which involves transferring stem cells from the blood of a donor to the patient – usually from bone marrow, peripheral blood for umbilical cord blood.

“Each arm was given an injection, one for blood export, the other for blood import, as the blood would return to my body after the needed stem cells were collected through apheresis,” Xu wrote. The most difficult part for her, however, is that she could hardly move throughout the 380-minute process. “It’s really a torture. My whole body went numb,” she said.

Sina Weibo Photo

Yet she made it, and Xu said she never regretted the experience. “Many people quit midway, but I kept telling myself, he would die if I walk away.”

While the transplantation does no effective harm to her health, Xu may need some time to regain her energy. “I sweat easily these days, maybe it’ll take two weeks to recover.”

The stardom, which came as quite a surprise for Xu, is seen as a good thing by her. “I feel honored to be capable of helping someone else,” Xu said. “It might encourage more people to join in the marrow bank as volunteer donors.”