Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donation for Blood Cancer Patients
The good deed of a Navy non-commissioned officer who took the lead in sharing life through hematopoietic stem cell donation is touching many people.
On the 24th, Master Sergeant Kim Minje of the Naval Education and Training Command's Information and Communications School recently donated his own hematopoietic stem cells to a patient fighting blood cancer.
Hematopoietic stem cells are progenitor cells that create blood cells such as white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets through replication and differentiation in the bone marrow. For donation, the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types must match, but the probability of a match between a donor and a patient who are not related by blood is about 1 in 20,000, making it extremely rare.
Master Sergeant Kim has been interested in donation since his school days and pledged to donate hematopoietic stem cells through the Life Sharing Practice Headquarters on April 10, 2009. He was contacted twice, in 2012 and 2022, about blood cancer patients with similar HLA types, but both times the donation was canceled during the process due to the recipient's health issues.
After about 15 years and 5 months of waiting, he was contacted a third time about a blood cancer patient with a similar HLA type, and subsequent blood tests showed a 100% match. Finally, after 15 years, Master Sergeant Kim's dream of sharing life came true. He willingly proceeded with the donation for a patient he had never met and completed the hematopoietic stem cell donation.
After successfully completing the donation with the encouragement of his family and fellow soldiers, Master Sergeant Kim said, "As a soldier who protects the lives and property of the people, I believe this is something I should naturally do. If my small help can save someone's life, there is nothing more I could wish for."
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