Appreciative lung recipient registers as organ donor

Gift of life sparks desire to raise public awareness and understanding of donation system

A donated lung links a woman in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, with a boy who grazed cattle thousands of miles away in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

For Wu Yue, 30, who received the lung transplant, breathing deeply is the best thing in the world.

In 2017, to show her gratitude, Wu registered as an organ donor herself, which she considered a gift for the donor. "It's not an easy decision to make, but I want to voice my support for the organ donor system and encourage more people to understand and support it. Even if my organs are not suitable for donation, I'm willing to donate my body for medical research."

She calls the donor "cattle-grazing boy", because the only information she knows about him is that he was a boy who grazed cattle and fell to his death from a hill.

"He gave his lung to me and I should take good care of it," Wu said. "I often imagine what he looked like and how he lived his young life. He is my best listener. Besides my parents and good friends, he is another reason for me to carry on."