Her name is Arzugul, a road maintenance worker in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and a generous blood donor.
The local hero has "panda blood," or a blood type as rare as pandas. There are only 3 out of 1,000 people who have this rare blood type.
She said, "Everyone lives only once. I felt very accomplished if my donation can help others. The only reason I got so much attention is because of the rareness of my blood."
Individuals with Rh-negative blood can donate to anybody who in within the Rh system but doctors are very careful when dispensing it.
Dr. Thierry Peyrard, the current Director of the National Immunohematology Reference Laboratory in Paris, said, "It's the golden blood."
However, it was not until 2011 that Arzugul realized that she had a rare blood type. She has been donating blood since 2003.
She found out through the technician in a blood donation truck that her blood saved a man who was to have surgery.
In 2014, she took an overnight bus trip to save a woman in Urumqi who was to deliver by caesarian section.
Rh-negative blood donors are people who lack an antigen which is common in most people. If a person lacks an antigen that is present in 90 percent of donors, then the person's blood is considered rare.
It is this rarity that creates a blood shortage. However, scientists have tried to study this further.
In 2007, Professor Henrik Clausen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark led a team of scientists that ran experiments on converting blood types.
This experiment involved infusing enzymes in the blood to eliminate antigens, and making a blood type which is Rh positive to negative.
Clausen said, "Clinical translation of this approach may allow improvement of the blood supply and enhancement of patient safety in transfusion medicine."