The corneas of Sun Jianye, a 33-year-old man from Yantian District of Shenzhen, were transplanted into the eyes of two recipients yesterday.

Sun, who had earlier himself received a liver transplant, became the 25th cornea donor in Shenzhen this year.

Two years ago, he was diagnosed with liver cancer and had a liver transplant operation in December 2004, which saved his life.

During his recovery, he said to his wife: "My life was given by others. If I passed away some day, be sure to donate my corneas to those in need."

At round 7 AM yesterday, Sun died of breath prostration. Doctors from the Shenzhen Ophthalmic Hospital took his corneas.

Meanwhile, two recipients prepared for the transplant operations.

One recipient, 21-year-old Yang Zhonghua who is originally from Chongqing and working in Buji, Longgang District, received Sun's cornea in the first transplant. She lost sight in her left eye after a bad cold when she was a little girl.

The other recipient, Chen Biansheng, is from Shantou in Guangdong.

His eyesight had been very poor since birth. He had a cornea transplant in his left eye two years ago, and this time he had the cornea transplanted into his right eye.

The two recipients were happy, when doctor Yao Xiao-ming who performed the operations announced everything had gone smoothly and they would regain their eyesight soon.

"I am very grateful to the donors. Without them, people like me would never see this world," Chen said.

(Shenzhen Daily June 27, 2006)