RB Leipzig captain Willi Orban will have blood stem cells harvested on Wednesday after being found as a match for someone with blood cancer, the club said on Tuesday.
Orban, a Hungary international, has been training alone since Sunday after taking “special injections” to increase his stem cell count for the procedure. The club added that “it is unclear as to whether he can feature in the game” against Union Berlin on Saturday.
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The defender has been registered with the DKMS (Germany’s bone marrow donor registry) since 2017. The procedure, which in some cases also requires a bone marrow extraction, is used to treat people with blood cancers and disorders.
“Of course I was surprised when I received the info that I was a match,” he said in a statement. “I without a doubt wanted to make the donation as soon as possible.
“I have the chance to potentially save another person’s life with very little effort. It was a no brainer. I hope my donation will help the recipient to recover from their illness.”
Orban added that potentially saving a life is more important than missing a game of football and hopes he will inspire more people to sign up for blood stem cell donation.
He said: “I might of course miss the Union [Berlin] game but even with my sporting ambitions, football is of secondary importance. Those who know me know that I will do everything I can in order to rejoin the team as soon as possible.
“I hope this inspires more people to register. The process was really simple and I feel like I’ve been very well looked after. My example shows that it makes total sense to register.”
Leipzig are fourth in the Bundesliga table, a point behind third-placed Borussia Dortmund.
