In 2003, student Lai Thi Kim Thu entered a blood donation site for the first time, feeling both curious and afraid. When she saw blood flowing from her arm, she became so frightened she had to step outside to calm herself down. But at that very moment, when she noticed patients waiting anxiously for blood in the hospital corridor, she suddenly understood that donating was not a loss — it was life waiting to be revived.
From that initial fear, Lai Thi Kim Thu began a journey of more than two decades with voluntary blood donation, eventually realising that the most precious reward was not certificates of merit, but a soul nurtured by compassion.
Chu Anh Tu, an engineer from the port city of Hai Phong, became a donor through his own experience as a patient.
“I once spent time in hospital for surgery. During my stay, I saw many patients waiting for blood transfusions, and I deeply understood how it feels to be someone in need of blood,” Tu shared.
Out of gratitude to those who were willing to donate blood, Tu began advocating for voluntary blood donation.
For him, donating blood is simply about giving, contributing a small part to the common development of society without expecting anything in return.
Over the past 16 years, he has donated blood more than 60 times, quietly offering his blood as a way of giving back to life what he once received.
Perhaps no one understands the value of a unit of blood more deeply than those who have once desperately searched for blood for their loved ones.
Teacher Nguyen Mau Hung, born in 1982 and working at Tran Quang Dieu High School in Quang Ngai Province, is a familiar name in the local blood donation movement. Starting his volunteer journey in 2004, he has donated blood 53 times to date.
Hung still cannot forget the night his young daughter was rushed to hospital with gastric bleeding. She was in critical condition and urgently needed a transfusion. He and his wife were overwhelmed with anxiety but felt helpless; he had donated blood only a few days earlier and his wife often suffered from anaemia.
In that moment, he quickly posted an appeal on social media: “My daughter needs two units of blood. Please, kind-hearted people, come to Quang Ngai Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital to help her!”
What moved him deeply and remains unforgettable was that a group of friends who were having a gathering immediately left their party and travelled 30 kilometres to the hospital at night to donate for his daughter.
“After that experience, I truly understood that each blood donation not only saves one person, but also brings joy and happiness to their entire family. That has motivated me to make greater efforts and contribute more to blood donation programmes,” Hung said.
In addition to regularly joining blood donation drives, the teacher is also ready to donate platelets whenever patients need them. He has also actively encouraged others to donate blood and helped establish and manage a fund to support travel costs for platelet donors.
He has devoted his heart to blood donation because he hopes patients will always feel reassured and confident, knowing that doctors and blood donors are accompanying them in their fight against illness.
For nearly 10 years, Nguyen Viet Hoang from the coal-mining province of Quang Ninh has donated blood voluntarily 40 times. Not only is he an active blood donor, but he is also an energetic volunteer. He currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Dong Trieu Living Blood Bank Club, helping spread the blood donation movement among local residents.
What has kept him involved in the movement for nearly a decade is not only the desire to save lives. It is also his belief in the good things that still exist amid the busyness of life. After each donation, he often stays for a few minutes to watch people patiently waiting for their turn. They include students, workers, soldiers, and public employees, each from a different background but sharing the same compassionate heart.
Even when he no longer meets the health conditions to continue donating blood, he chooses to remain on the volunteer journey in other ways, so that messages of love can continue to spread.
For Thanh Minh Vuong Quoc Phong, a Cham ethnic man in Lam Dong Province, his blood donation journey began from an unexpected situation more than 20 years ago. While performing military service, he came across a person injured in an accident on the road and took the victim to hospital.
When doctors said the patient urgently needed a transfusion, the young soldier, who was seeing a needle for the first time and felt very afraid, still decided to donate. At that moment, he had only one simple thought in mind: “Save the person first.” After donating blood, he quietly walked nearly seven kilometres back to his unit without telling anyone what he had just done.
Since that special first donation, he has remained involved in the blood donation movement for more than two decades, donating blood 55 times and becoming an active member of the local “living blood bank.” Whether he is working or dozens of kilometres away from the hospital, he is always ready to set off whenever a patient urgently needs blood.
For him, blood donation has become part of life and a source of joy, knowing that he can help save others.
Each person who has stayed with voluntary blood donation over the years has a different story. From these simple acts of kindness, hundreds of units of blood have been donated, bringing treatment opportunities to many patients. It is also from these stories that the message of sharing and responsibility towards the community continues to spread, encouraging more people to join blood donation, giving life and hope to those in need.
