There is light in the eyes when there is love in the heart. Mengmeng was awarded Pursuit of Excellence Award of Tongji University 2020 two weeks ago.

Mengmeng is a "Medical Science Promoter" and practised her “professional kindness" of medical staff in the eyes of her teachers and classmates.

The 8446th national and the 453rd Shanghai hematopoietic stem cell donor

Anyone who meets Mengmeng would be melt by her smile. She has big smiles though she looks tiny. She tends to show her smile before she speaks. She has a sweet baby voice like LIN Zhiling, a modal from China’s Taiwan whose baby-like voice is popular among young people in China. But what is unexpected is this little and sweet girl has a strong and brave heart.

On June 10, 2019, Mengmeng was seen undergoing saline drips in both arms in turn from 10:00 to 16:00 at Huashan Hospital. Beside her bed stood a blood separator into which blood flew from her vessels along a long tube. After 6 long hours, the hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in her body were collected successfully and transplanted to the body of the HSC recipient. The stem cells are expected to "work" in the hematopoietic system of the recipient to save his/her life.

We can see a broad smile on Mengmeng’s face in this photo; but what we cannot see is the sleepless nights that the girl pulled through behind the scene.

For five consecutive days, Mengmeng went through physical examinations, IV infusions and seven-hour collection of circulating blood, which resulted in pains in her bones, high fever and swell in both arms. Those around her were impressed by her courage, because as a medical student, she knew the physical discomfort caused by donation of cells better than anyone else. But she still found herself lucky in that "the probability rate of successful stem cell matches is only 1 in 100,000; and I am the one in 100,000, available to bring hope to a life."

"Please call me No. 29!", "Surrender to endless agents!". Her optimality amused doctors and nurses who called her a "drama princess".

An ambassador of hematopoietic stem cell donation

"I was bound with HSC donation by destiny," said Mengmeng. She participated in blood donation and joined the China HSC Database in 2016 soon after she started her university life. Since then, she acted in dramas, made animations to help promote knowledge of HSC donation.

She played the role of a girl patient suffering from leukemia in a few dramas and experienced the longing for life of a leukemia patient. She strongly felt how lucky she was for being able to donate her stem cells, since "I experienced their desperateness in a way”.

Mengmeng has almost become an ambassador of bone marrow donation since her HSC donation in June 2019. She participated in the filming of "My Motherland and me" for a National Day promotion produced by the China Red Cross, and that of a promotion of the International Bone Marrow Donor Day in July. "HSC Donation by Peppa Pig’s Mother”, a children’s play she wrote won a prize in a competition organized by the Shanghai Medical Association in August. Some first-year students registered to become a member of HSC Database after hearing her presentation about HSC donation to the 2019 freshmen at the Tongji University Freshmen Forum in September.

"HSC Donation is safe for the donors, since I am back to normal". She used her own experience as an example of safe HSC donation.

Her path to charity work went further following her HSC donation. She was appointed as the “Ambassador of Student Aid Policy Promotion of Tongji University”, and awarded “Outstanding Volunteer of Tongji University Red Cross”. She became a member of the Shanghai HSC Volunteer Club, a subsidiary of the China HSC Donor Program and a volunteer of the China Red Cross. She was awarded with a Youth Medal of Shanghai in 2020. She has become a member of the Boai Volunteer Association of Yingkou, her hometown city in Liaoning Province.

A light to bring hope to life

Mengmeng was busy helping with medical check and treatment of patients as an intern at Tongji Hospital before the outbreak of COVID-19. She could well recall an 80-year-old man who was helped by his wife to make his body donation. Mengmeng accepted them, helping him fill out the form. The old man knew that he had been ill for many years and was worried that his organs “will not be of much use". But he preferred to make his contribution to medicine in his own way, since he had benefited from medical care. He donated his body just to School of Medicine, Tongji University for teaching purpose, since he was taken good care by doctors and nurses at Tongji Hospital. Deeply touched by the old man, Mengmeng was more determined to become a good doctor in the future.

During the pandemic, Mengmeng and her classmates founded "Let's ask our little doctor!", a WeChat official account, to help people relieve their panic over the pandemic. They answered enquires about the pandemic-related issues by drawing on their professional knowledge and by showing lively and interesting videos and comics that could be easily understood by the elderly and children. Mengmeng took the initiative to translate the COVID-19 prevention materials into English and sent them to her international friends by mail when the pandemic started overseas.

She won a Tongji University Scholarship for Outstanding Student every year and the National Scholarship for two years. "Under the guidance of the "lighthouse" of Tongji University, I wish to become a small but powerful light to show the way and bring hope to life". Mengmeng's face shone with excitedness when she learnt that she was awarded with Pursuit of Excellence Award of Tongji University 2020.