A firefighter donates 119 blood donor cards to children with cancer

A firefighter in Busan donated 119 blood donor cards to help children with cancer. According to the National Fire Agency on Monday, Lee Seong-hoon of Changseon 119 Safety Center visited the Nauem Center of the Korea Childhood Leukemia Foundation (KCLF) in Busan on Sept. 17 and donated 1,000 face masks he and his colleagues prepared for children along with the blood donor cards. Lee started donating blood in 2001 to help a friend’s younger brother, who was suffering from leukemia, and has been doing so ever since.

In 2007, Lee registered with the Korea Marrow Donor Program as a donor. In January 2017, he received a call from the program that there was a leukemia patient with the same genetic factors as his and donated his bone marrow. Bone marrow stem cells make up less than 1 percent of the marrow mass and the probability of coming up as a match with those not related by blood is one in tens of thousands.

“Blood donation is a privilege that can only be enjoyed by those who are healthy,” the 36-year-old firefighter said. “I want to keep donating blood until I reach 200 and 300 times since it is saving precious lives with small actions.”