Accompanied by staff members from Wuxi Red Cross Society, Yang Shuiquan fulfilled the legal procedure to donate his son Yang Shaoxiong’s liver and kidneys to three strangers in Nanjing, Suzhou and Changzhou, who were suffering from related dysfunction.

Yang was Wuxi’s seventh donor this year, the 35th since the city started carrying out organ donations in 2011.

“This is just my son’s humble contribution to the society,” said the bereaved father. “It is worthy as my son’s organs can help save others’ lives.”

His young boy Yang Shaoxiong, once an excellent sophomore at Wuxi Institute of Technology, had passed away on March 23, falling victim to a congenital vascular malformation.

“Everything just happened so fast! Yang got a slight headache on March 20, and quickly worsened with bloodshot eyes and throwing up several times that night,” recalled by Zhou Kedi, one of Yang’s roommates.

While speaking of her impressions of Yang, Zhang Xinyue, the class president, described the young student as “easy-going, hardworking and frugal”.

“He tried his utmost to ease the financial burden on his parents,” Zhang said. “Not only taking a part-time job at the school cafeteria, but also joining together with his roommates to enter the monthly ‘best dorm’ prize, winning some 100 yuan every time.”

The bonus was used to pay for the roommates to go out for a meal each month.

But what most impressed Zhang was Yang’s selfless attitude toward the school’s subsidy for students from low-income households.

“He enjoyed the financial support in his first school year, but last semester chose to give up his entitlement to give others a chance to get access to the money, as he said there were people in more urgent need than him,” Zhang said.

The schoolmates and teachers have been raising money for Yang’s family, receiving 5,000 yuan ($726) in contributions in just half a day.

“We just want to show our respect for Yang and his parents,” one student said.