My Story

My name is Yuan Pan. I am an artist, a husband, a father, a lover of all things related to history, travel, and the outdoors. I was a professor of graphic design for almost two decades until 2020 when I decided to apply all of my life experiences into designing and handcrafting ceramic art tiles. Shortly after this exciting career transition, my health began to decline. The following year, my hematologist referred me to a transplant physician. It turns out I have a high-risk form of post polycythemia vera myelofibrosis. When I learned that a peripheral blood stem cell transplant could mean a cure for my terminal cancer, I agreed to the treatment because of course I want the opportunity to see my daughter grow up. I then discovered what so many others on the transplant list know too well.

Despite the millions of people already in the bone marrow transplant registries, it is not uncommon for patients with life-threatening cancers to find zero matches. Chances of finding a match are even smaller for those of Chinese descent as patients are most likely to match with someone of their own ethnicity and those of Chinese descent are underrepresented in the registries. And so I join all the others who are fighting for their lives and those survivors who courageously share their stories in hope of raising awareness about peripheral blood stem cell transplant and the importance of encouraging people from all ethnicities to please consider signing up to donate.

It’s true, you can be the cure to someone’s cancer.