Home >> My Olympic Story (June 8-June 27)

Xin Demin: My blood flows for a world of love and harmony

My name is Xin Demin, I'm 36-years-old.

Although I am just an ordinary driver from Shanghai, I was selected as a torchbearer for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay.

Fifteen years ago, I received news of a child in a Shanghai hospital suffering from leukemia who needed a blood transfusion. The very next day, I ran to donate my blood. In these past fifteen years, I've donated approximately 9,400 cc's of blood, but I don't think it's enough. I hope to be able to give blood for the rest of my life.

In 1996, during a medical check-up, I discovered that I have a very rare blood type – O Rh-negative. This means that I am a "universal donor;" people of any blood type can receive my blood. Since then, I always donated the most I could each time I gave blood – 400 cc. During large-scale meetings and competitions, and even during the SARS epidemic, I stood at the ready, 24 hours a day, to give blood whenever I could.

In my eyes, donating blood is an ordinary thing. My neighbors, colleagues and parents didn't even know I was donating blood until I was selected as a Beijing Olympic torchbearer.

I like playing sports such as billiards and football, and I was a very good athlete while in school. Under the encouragement of my friends, I applied and was approved to be an Olympic torchbearer.

On June 25, I was the 10th torchbearer of the Torch Relay in Nantong, Jiangsu Province. After finishing the relay, I bought a souvenir for every torchbearer that participated in the Shanghai leg of the relay, imprinted with the signatures of all of the torchbearers of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay.

Recently, I became a volunteer at the Shanghai Blood Donation Administration Office. My work is to answer inquiries from those that wish to donate blood. I believe that donating blood is an important contribution, consistent with the Olympic spirit. I will spread this idea and create a world of love and harmony.