Tang Jiazhu has a death sentence.

He suffers from leucocythemia and, at best, has two to three years to live.

Unbelievably, two men have the power to save his life. But they have decided for reasons only they know to keep from doing so.

Tang, his wife, his family and friends, hope the men will somehow change their minds and come to his aid.

This drama of life and death started when the 42-year-old Tang, living in Changde, central China's Hunan Province, was diagnosed in October two years ago with his fatal disease.

Thanks to suggestions from his neighbours, his wife Zhang Lijun sought help from the Beijing-based Zhonghua Marrow Bank in November of last year.

After a week, the Zhonghua Marrow Bank told the couple that two individuals indeed had bone marrow that matches Tang's. One is from south China's Hainan Province, while the other is from southwest China's Sichuan Province.

This, naturally, gave much new hope to the couple.

But after several days, the hope began to turn back into anxiety and anguish.

Zhonghua Marrow Bank said the men inexplicably had refused to donate their bone marrow to Tang.

This means that if the two potential donors do not relent and change their minds, Tang's life will only last two or three more years.

Up until now, the couple waits.

So do puzzled officials at the Beijing-based marrow bank which began registering bone marrow donors across the country in 2001.

Along with 27 provincial branches, it has registered more than 130,000 people nationwide and matched about 1,300 donors with recipients suffering from leukemia, anemia and other blood-related diseases.

But it has only completed about 120 successful marrow matches, said Liu Jinghu, deputy director of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donor program.

One reason why the donors may be unwilling to donate is because their health conditions are not suitable for donation, according to Liu.

And sometimes, patients cannot accept a transplant operation either because of their poor physical condition or the high cost of operations, said Liu.

Such a transplant usually costs about 200,000 yuan (US$24,092) to 500,000 yuan (US$60,240), which can hardly be covered by Chinese medical insurance.

Liu said his bank has taken measures to guarantee more people's lives can be saved, including having every donor think twice before they register.

If a need arises, donors should feel comfortable to donate their bone marrow tissue, said Liu.

To reduce transplantation costs, Liu said the bank is consulting with the departments of social security and public health.

(China Daily July 13, 2004)