Born into a poor family in Tinh Gia District in Thanh Hoa Province, Hoang Van Quan, 24, is a journalism student at Hue University of Science.

Hoang Van Quan

Quan said that when he was a junior high school student, he would go with his dad into the forest to make charcoal to earn the family’s daily bread.

One day, his father was attacked by acute malaria. “To save my dad’s life,” said Quan, “my mum had to move heaven and earth to borrow money from our relatives. I’ve understood what poverty is and how it affected our lives ever since.”

After graduating from high school, Quan went to HCM City to earn a living.

In September 2004, when he was working at Cat Lai Port, Quan witnessed an accident, which pushed him to giving blood to the community - A docker in his team took a false step, fell and hit his head against the side of a ship.

The victim was taken to Cho Ray Hospital immediately for treatment. The hospital said that he needed a blood transfusion. Since Quan had O type blood, as did another colleague, they went to donate blood to save the victim’s life.

Quan said, “After my colleague’s accident, I was fully aware of the importance of blood donation, and promised to myself that I would continue to give my blood to save more lives.”

Quan began giving blood at the Humanitarian Blood Donation Center, HCMC Red Cross -201 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1.

In 2005, Quan passed the entrance exam to Hue University of Science, where he took part in the school’s “Red Birthday Club,” whose members are voluntary blood donors.

Quan said, “We are 30 students in all. Our task is to raise other students’ awareness of the importance of blood donation and encourage them to offer blood to people in need.”

Quan has now made 25 donations, nine at the Humanitarian Blood Donation Center in HCM City and 16 at the Hue Central Hospital.

Quan has been officially recognized as a person who has made the most blood donations in Hue City.