Thirty-six workers at a textile printing firm donated 7,400 cc
of blood voluntarily to a Taiwanese manager to help him through
major heart surgery at the weekend.
Shih Ming-ching, 35, of the Taiwan-invested Nanhai Junrong
Textile Printing Co, was diagnosed with serious heart disease at
the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Hospital last week. He underwent urgent
surgery on Saturday.
Shih needed 10,000 cc of type A blood for the procedure, but the
hospital could get only 3,000 cc from the blood bank in the
city.
Workers at his company in Foshan, south China's Guangdong
Province, were told of the emergency on Saturday morning. Dozens of
employees offered immediately to donate their blood, even though
many did not even know their type.
Nine who knew their blood types rushed to Guangzhou immediately
and the rest had tests in Foshan, before 27 of them set off to join
their colleagues to donate blood.
After the group donation, the employees came back so late on
Saturday that they missed the company's
Spring Festival dinner.
Shih remained in an intensive care unit of the hospital after
the surgery, his wife told China Daily.
She added: "I am deeply thankful for what they did for my
husband. Without their help, he might have left us at any time.
"When disaster strikes, help comes from all sides."
The doctor in charge of the case said the speedy response by
workers meant there was no delay in the surgery, which passed
smoothly.
The help Shih received can be seen as a reward for what he has
done to help others.
Since coming to Foshan in 1999, he has been donating money for
Project
Hope, which funds poor children to go to school.
"I hope he can wake up soon and recover so that we can pay back
to society and do our best to help those in need," his wife
said.
(China Daily January 24, 2006)