Shandong residents rush to donate blood for boy, 7

People in Shandong province replenished its AB-type blood bank in two days after learning that a 7-year-old boy was in urgent need of AB blood for medical treatment, the Shandong Provincial Blood Center said on Monday.

The center called on Sunday for people with AB-type blood to donate to help the boy, who needs 3,000 milliliters of blood every day for medical treatment in an intensive-care unit at Shandong Provincial Hospital in Jinan, the provincial capital.

The boy had been in the ICU for nine days after eating poisonous mushrooms and was still in critical condition on Monday, it said.

Acting on the call, 989 people across Shandong rushed to Jinan to donate 322,200 ml of blood by 2 pm on Monday. They included 425 donors who contributed 152,200 ml of AB blood.

Because the red blood cells can last for no more than 35 days, the center called on Monday for AB blood donors to pause donations for two weeks.

"We didn't call it a day until 11 pm on Sunday because there were volunteers in line waiting to donate for the boy," said Li Peng, deputy director of the center.

Members of the Zibo Sunshine Rescue Team were among the respondents.

"At first, we requested our team members who have AB-type blood to head to Jinan on Monday morning, but considering the boy's critical condition, 17 of us arrived in Jinan on Sunday night," said team leader Zheng Chuanheng.

A huge number of netizens sent their blessings to the boy and his family, expressing hopes he will recover soon.

His brother shared pictures of the mushrooms the boy ate to warn people of the risks.

"Although Shandong is not a place where mushroom poisoning cases are frequently seen, there are several cases every year," said Zhao Jinshan from the Food and Nutrition Institute at the Shandong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Zhao said that measures such as freezing, drying, frying and steaming cannot remove poisons from mushrooms, so the best way to avoid poisoning is not to eat wild mushrooms.