Air Force Officer Who Donated Hematopoietic Stem Cells on His Birthday

Lieutenant Colonel Hong Chang-hyun of the Military Police Group is holding a certificate of appreciation received from the Korea Marrow Donor Program Association and posing for a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] An officer who donated hematopoietic stem cells to a stranger on his birthday has become a topic of interest. The protagonist is Lieutenant Colonel Hong Chang-hyun (47) of the Air Force Military Police Corps.

According to the Air Force on the 13th, Lieutenant Colonel Hong learned in January 1996, when he was a cadet, that Korean-American cadet Sungdeok Bauman of the U.S. Air Force Academy was battling leukemia and searching for a hematopoietic stem cell donor.

Moved by the heartbreaking story, Lieutenant Colonel Hong registered as a potential donor with the Korea Hematopoietic Stem Cell Bank Association. However, since the probability of a genetic match between an unrelated donor and patient is extremely low, about 0.005%, he was unable to donate to cadet Sungdeok Bauman at that time.

Twenty-five years later, in February of this year, Lieutenant Colonel Hong miraculously received a call from the association that there was a patient with a matching genetic profile, and without hesitation, he decided to donate.

The day Lieutenant Colonel Hong donated hematopoietic stem cells last week was his birthday.

Returning to work on the 12th, Lieutenant Colonel Hong said, "Having the precious opportunity to save a person's life was the greatest gift of my life," and added, "As a father of two children, I felt proud to personally demonstrate the practice of sharing life to my children."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.