George Yeo visits Taiwan, thanks benefactors for saving his son who had childhood leukaemia

George Yeo's youngest son was only four years old when a doctor said that his "only way to survive" was through a bone marrow transplant.

It's no surprise, many years later, that Yeo visited the charities in Hualien, Taiwan again to express his gratitude after they helped make this transplant possible, saving his son's life.

"Thanking Venerable Cheng Yen for the bone marrow donation which saved my youngest son in 2004," the former foreign minister wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday (Sept 13), sharing photos of his meeting with Cheng Yen and the calligraphy that he presented to the Good Samaritan.

In 2004, Yeo's son, Frederick, had a relapse of leukaemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. Even with the transplant, his chances of survival was less than 10 per cent, Yeo revealed in a speech on Wednesday at the Asia-Pacific Forward Forum in Taiwan.

None of his other children had matching bone marrow, and he couldn't find any matches in the Singapore or Hong Kong registry either.

It was only through Tzu Chi Charity Foundation that they found a match in Taiwan.

Huang Chi Chuan, a member of the foundation and part of the Taiwan Coast Guard, immediately agreed to donate his bone marrow to Frederick.

"A coke can of bone marrow was aspirated from each side of his hip bone with a big needle while he was under general anaesthesia…  It was not a procedure without risk," Yeo shared in his speech.

While serving as Singapore's foreign minister from 2004 to 2011, he did not visit Taiwan.

After he lost his seat in the 2011 General Elections, Yeo and his wife brought Frederick to thank Cheng Yen in Hualien.

"She is a saint," Yeo said, adding that they had to ask for special permission to meet their donor because regulations did not allow both parties to meet.

While Yeo himself wasn't able to join his family to meet their benefactor, he eventually met Huang in 2015.

'It's you, isn't it?'

In 2011, Yeo's wife and son attended an event organised by Tzu Chi, where the latter was finally able to meet the donor.

"I am grateful to the person who donated his bone marrow to me. Because of him, I'm able to stand here today. Now, I am not living for myself, but living for everyone," Frederick had said, addressing the volunteers who had helped save his life.

However, because they didn't know who the donor was at the time, they could only ask every individual they met if they were their benefactor.

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"Did you donate your marrow to save me?" Frederick had asked volunteers at the event.

His question got many shaking heads and smiles until he eventually met Huang.

"It's you, isn't it? It's you…" Frederick said, before he and his mother tearily hugged his donor.

Frederick, now 29, has graduated as a doctor from University College London and has just completed two years as a junior doctor in England, Yeo shared in his speech at the Forum.

"The first thing we did when we arrived in Taipei last Sunday was to take a car to Hualien, to call on Venerable Cheng Yen. She was happy to see Fred and put a duty on him to help others."

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khooyihang@asiaone.com

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