Lu Ziquan discovered he was a bone-marrow match for his critically ill father, but weighed only 66 pounds, 33 pounds below the minimum for donation. He ate five meals a day for three months, reached the threshold, and donated the marrow that gave his father a chance at life.
An 11-year-old boy in central China decided to gain 33 pounds in three months so he could donate bone marrow to his dying father.
Lu Ziquan, from Henan Province, learned that his father, Lu Yan-heng, needed a bone-marrow transplant after being diagnosed with a severe blood disorder that could develop into leukemia. Compatibility tests showed the boy was a match, but he weighed only 66 pounds, well below the 99-pound minimum required for donation.
In March 2019, Lu Ziquan began a determined effort to gain weight. He increased his intake to five meals a day and kept eating even when he felt uncomfortably full. Within three months, he had gained the necessary 33 pounds and reached the required weight.
In September 2019, the boy donated bone marrow to his father at a hospital in Beijing, close to his father's birthday. He later donated hematopoietic stem cells as well, which help the body produce new blood cells.
After the transplant, the father wrote that his son had given him the most precious birthday gift imaginable and planted new hope in his life. The boy, for his part, said that now that he had helped his father, he could turn to his next mission: losing the weight and returning to his normal routine.
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