odds He's beaten the

I want to be a doctor when I grow up. Then I want to be a soccer player. Then I want to be Iron Man!

- Bryan Liu

The book does a fantastic job highlighting some of our more memorable stories over 25 years.

The timing for the book is also special because we are about to move from the print era to the digital age with the launch of our smartphone app before the World Cup.

And we're celebrating the paper's best-ever achievement in the Society for News Design annual awards, where we won five excellence awards.

- The New Paper editor Dominic Nathan on Singapore Raw: 25 Stories From 25 Years Of News, Emotion, Wow

tantam@sph.com.sg

This little boy's story so moved the hearts of readers that one came forward to donate his kidney to him.

The New Paper first shared Bryan Liu's story in 2010.

He was born with one kidney, which became useless by the time he was two and the one his mother gave him in 2009 failed, too. We reported on the daily struggles he and his family went through for his dialysis treatment.

Bryan later became the youngest kidney recipient in Singapore from an altruistic donor when reader Mr Lin Dilun, 29, who is now a coordinator with the Bone Marrow Donor Programme, gave one of his kidneys to him in July 2012. An altruistic donor is one who is not related to the recipient via family links.

This incredible story is just one of many that made it into Singapore Raw: 25 Stories From 25 Years Of News, Emotion, Wow, a new book published in commemoration of The New Paper's 25th anniversary. (See report above.)

TNP visited Bryan, nine, who has a twin sister and his family two weeks ago to present an advance copy of the hardcover book to them. Naturally, Bryan was excited to find his pictures in one of the chapters.

His father, Mr Victor Liu, 51, a telco group manager, said: "(The book) is a good initiative and has a nice collection of stories that play a part in chronicling and charting society's growth. All these headlines have impacted society in one way or another, and they're a good variety."

Mr Liu added that the family was very happy to be able to share Bryan's story with Singapore through the book.

MILESTONE

"TNP has helped to chronicle Bryan's progress and story, which is why this book is a milestone for Bryan as well as for TNP," he said.

Before the transplant, Bryan had to endure 10 hours of dialysis treatment each night. He also had many diet restrictions that prevented him from eating food high in sodium, and could only drink a cup (300ml) of water a day.

The family also could not go out at night and had to forgo holidays because of Bryan's treatment. But since the transplant, they have been on three family trips to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong Disneyland.

Madam Serene Ng, 39, Bryan's homemaker mother, said: "The new kidney is a big change for the whole family, and we love the changes."

Mr Liu added: "Bryan is doing very well now. He is so much more active and is very naughty now, he is always answering back. But that's a 'happy problem'."

Said Bryan: "I want to be a doctor when I grow up. Then I want to be a soccer player. Then I want to be Iron Man!"

"I want to be a doctor to help people. And I also want to poke the doctors back," he added, referring to the multiple times he has had his blood drawn by doctors because of his condition. A smiling Miss Celine Chen, 23, a communications undergraduate at Nanyang Technological Universityand a former intern at TNP who had interviewed the family for Singapore Raw, was there to present the book to them.

"Working on Bryan's story was a heartwarming experience. He's boisterous and energetic. You can't tell that he has had health complications," she said.

Mr Dave Ang, editor of Singapore Raw, said: "It's not every day that a newspaper runs a story which so inspired its readers that one actually steps forward to donate a kidney to a total stranger, but that's exactly what happened here.

"That's the power of raw storytelling, something which The New Paper prides itself on, something which we celebrate in this book."