"My father decided to donate his body three years before his death. He signed a cornea donation with his quivering hands on his deathbed," Niu Xuejun said in a choked voice.
Body donation is not always understandable for everyone. Niu Xuejun initially refused to help his father submit the body donation agreement to the Taiyuan Branch of Red Cross Society . It was totally unacceptable for him.
"My father insisted on donating his body. Finally, I was convinced that it was a dedicated decision," Niu said. His father was the third body donor in Taiyuan this year.
When a young man accepted the corneas donated by Niu's father, Niu considered the donation as a continuation of his father’s life. He sobbed bitterly when he said that some of his relatives didn’t understand the donation. However, Niu still hopes to do something for medical progress, just like his father.
Taiyuan commemorated body donors on April 1, four days before Tomb-Sweeping Day, a traditional Chinese festival to honor the dead.
More than 300 people attended the activity at the monument to Taiyuan's body donors, including the donor's families and volunteers.
"I feel immense gratitude to these body donors. Thanks to their selflessness, we can practice and improve. This memorial taught me about the spirits of dedication and humanitarianism," a medical student said.
Just like Niu Xuejun, Yan Shuwen attended as a donor's family member.
Yan's wife, Ren Xiaojun was the deputy head of the Taiyuan Branch of the Red Cross before her death. She was once in charge of the promotion of body donation program. Ren was diagnosed terminal cancer and fell into a coma as the cancer cells metastasized. She asked Yan to sign a body donation agreement for her when she was temporarily revived from her coma.
Ren's insistence overcame her family's opposition and persuaded her husband. Eventually, Yan signed two body donation agreements, one for his wife and for himself.
"We signed the agreements at the same time, so that our names can be carved next to each other at the monument. I can not bear to leave her alone," Yan said.
Ren's body was used for medical research after she died in May 2013. Yan keeps their home just as it was when she was living there.
A 78-year old professor, Gong Xiangxun from Shanxi University was the first body donor in the province in 2000, when the program was started by the Taiyuan branch of the Red Cross.
Eleven years after the first donation, Taiyuan erected a monument to voluntary body donors in 2011. The first day of April was chosen to commemorate donors from the following year.
The monument is an anchor for the love and grief of donors' families and friends. Yan said he would bring a chrysanthemum to the monument when he missed his wife too much.
The number of voluntary body donors keeps growing in recent years. Taiyuan Branch of Red Cross Society has regulated the body donation’s procedures, from application, registration and acceptance.
To date, a total of 560 volunteers have agreed to donate, and 84 of them have already completed donations. The average age of donors is becoming younger now. Some young men of generations after 80s or 90s participated in the program.
"I hope more people will learn about the body donation program and donate, to realize the value of life and help others," said a donor's family member.
