A LOCAL man on Tuesday celebrated his 39th birthday by becoming Shanghais 294th hematopoietic stem cell donor after shedding 22 kilograms to meet the eligibility requirements.

Pan Weizhong, a team leader for Sinopec, joined the China Bone Marrow Bank in 2007 after one of his colleagues successfully donated his stem cells. Last October, Pan received a call from the Shanghai Red Cross Society telling him his blood was a match for a 28-year-old woman suffering from leukemia in Wuhan, capital of central Chinas Hubei Province.

He was really excited when he found out and couldnt wait to tell me when I came home from work,Pans wife Wang Aiping, who works as an accountant at a community health care center, told Shanghai Daily yesterday.

I was also very happy because I had always supported his decision to become a donor.

But when Pan, who weighed about 90 kilograms at the time, went for a preliminary medical examination, doctors told him he had a fatty liver and needed to lose weight, Wang said.

Determined to qualify for the scheme, Pan switched to a vegetarian diet and began exercising for two hours every day. He even quit smoking and drinking alcohol, his wife said.

My son and I also became vegetarians to support him,she said.

After two months of no meat and lots of exercise, doctors gave Pan the green light.

After Tuesdays operation Pan said he was delighted to have been able to help someone he had never even met.

It feels great to celebrate my birthday by giving this woman a fresh start in life,he said.Its the best present Ive ever had.

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Man fights the flab to be cell donor -Eastday