Cycling across China to share the gift of life
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Wang Zhengwei attends the China Transplant Games held at Peking University on June 11.[Photo provided to China Daily] |
In the past seven years, he has traveled 40,000 km. His longest trip, which took place in Qinghai province last year, lasted 20 days.
At first, Wang loved sharing his story on his travels, but he soon realized that few people knew about organ transplants and donations.
"Raising public awareness is a meaningful thing to do," he said.
China banned transplants of organs from executed prisoners in January 2015, so voluntary donations have been the only source of organs since then.
While the number of people signing up to be organ donors is growing fast, it is still far from enough. About 300,000 Chinese are on the waiting lists for transplants, but only about 10,000 receive operations each year.
During his journey in June, Wang often stopped to talk and hand out fliers about organ donation.
Not everyone approved. Some suspected he was involved in organ trafficking, while many senior citizens still believe in the Chinese tradition of burying the dead intact.
It is a question of personal ethics whether someone wants to donate their organs after death, said Liu Yuan, organ donation coordinator at Beijing You'an Hospital.
To Wang's surprise, some patients criticized him for "riding simply to make a name for himself", after he began crowdfunding online to support his journey.
However, Wang's family and friends support him and say they are proud that he chooses to ignore the naysayers.
Wang said he only tries to celebrate how transplant patients recover and regain their confidence, as he did.
