International Nurses’ Day on Monday carried extra special meaning for a man who had been suffering from blood cancer.
The patient has been given a new lease on life thanks to a healthcare provider who traveled more than 200km in February to donate her bone marrow.
Lin Li-ping (林麗萍), 37, is an asthma case manager at Taoyuan General Hospital and has been working in the healthcare industry for the past 17 years.
Lin entered herself into a charitable organization’s bone marrow donor pool about two years ago. She was notified in August last year that she was the only perfect match for a blood cancer patient who could die within a year if he did not receive a timely bone marrow transplant.
She agreed to donate her bone marrow without a moment’s hesitation.
“It took more than six months to prepare my body for the donation. I had to undergo a series of health checks, change my irregular eating habits and gain 2kg,” Lin said.
Lin said the donation procedure was originally scheduled prior to the Lunar New Year holidays at the end of January, but was postponed after a health examination she underwent two months before the scheduled date found her hemoglobin levels were below normal.
“I had been reluctant to take the iron-rich supplement chalybeate because it always makes me nauseous and gives me diarrhea. However, after realizing that my fear of the side effects could cost someone his life, I decided to regularly take the supplement and eat food that could help boost my levels of hemoglobin, such as apples,” Lin said.
Although the change of diet made Lin’s life miserable sometimes, it did help her body meet the medical criteria for a bone marrow donation.
As the recipient was male and therefore required a greater number of bone marrow cells then a female patient, it took Lin two days to donate approximately 20 liters of blood, which left her extremely feeble after it disrupted her calcium and phosphorus levels.
Despite the discomfort, Lin said she does not regret her decision.
“Although I do not know the recipient’s identity, I was told that he has a wife and children, and is the sole breadwinner of his family, which made me very certain about my decision,” Lin said.
Asked what she would say if she was ever given the chance to meet the recipient, Lin said: “I would tell him to live a long, courageous life.”
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