Four-year-old Yaxin with leukemia sees her wish to 'get married'with her dad in the hospital in Beijing. Photo:VCG

A father in Central China who risked his life by donating 50 percent more bone marrow than is considered safe to his leukemia-stricken son, still has to wait a week to hear if the transplant operation is a success.  

Doctors extracted 1,866 milliliters of bone marrow from the father on July 16. The normal maximum is 1,200 milliliters.

Doctors told the 52-year-old father, who is a farmer from Xianfeng village, Hubei Province, they won't know for 15 days if the operation to save his 24-year-old son is successful. 

The young man experienced headaches and a high fever in February, and was later diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at Wuhan No. 1 Hospital.

According to the hospital, ALL is a high-risk type of leukemia that progresses rapidly and has a high mortality rate, making the bone marrow transplant extremely urgent. 

After finding the father and the son were a match, the father didn't hesitate to undergo the painful procedure.

"Just take as much as possible as long as you can save my child. The more bone marrow taken from me, the greater the chance the transplant will be successful," said the father. 

The 1,866 milliliters of bone marrow from the father's body filled eight blood bags. 

The father recovered after two days of rest and treatment.

Wuhan Evening News