Death is inevitable for everyone. To die with dignity and peacefully is a form of blessing for the departed and their loved ones.
One afternoon in September, 2008, Hu Xiao-Mei, a well-known radio host mentioned earlier in this book, whose mother was a cancer patient, brought a colleague to our hospital; while walking, that colleague of her had to be supported by her. A photographer was coming along, too. Xiao-Mei’s colleague, Jian Jie, was a TV foreign language reporter. She was pale and frail. Her facial expression revealed that she was in great pain. Xiao-Mei helped her to sit down on a chair but she slid down from the chair and rested on the floor on a crawling position. She told me that the crawling position helped to alleviate her pain. I immediately realized that this was due to retroperitoneal metastases which caused compression of nerve roots. I asked the nurse to help her to the sofa for me to do a simple examination. I noticed that the surface of her stomach was unsmooth with several tumors protruding beneath the skin. She had being suffering from liver cancer for two years. “Dr. Xu, I am living in hell!” She told me while grasping my hand tightly with eyes full of expectation.
My memory went back to forty years ago when my mother held me firmly and said, “Son, please let me ‘go’!” My mother was suffering from liver cancer and was in severe pain. There was nothing that I could do to help her relieve her pain. Whenever I recall the scene, my heart aches. “What can I do to help this miserable patient in front of me?” She had been given morphine which was the strongest painkiller one could be given. I knew that in certain cases, some anti-cancer vaccines could have a pain-relieving effect as well. Studies on animals had also shown that these anti-cancer vaccines could improve the “Pain Threshold”. I would like to try this on her. So I said to her, “You’re well aware of your sickness. Let’s work together! I will give you an injection today and see how it goes. I won’t charge you and neither do you have to be admitted. Go home first and let’s make observations for a week.”
I instructed the nurse to inject 0.5ml of combination vaccines subcutaneously at Jian Jie upper left arm and at the area around liver where tumors were protruding. I asked her to go home and try to notice if there was any reaction at the places where injections were given. If swelling or fever was detected, that would imply an immunological response and the outcome would be more favorable.
Three days later, Xiaomei called me to inform that the pain at Jian Jie left thigh which was most painful previously had been reduced greatly. Eight days later while I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jian Jie called to ask me when I would be back to China; she wanted to be admitted into our hospital. After hearing that, I was very relieved and slept very well that night. This was because for the past one week the scene of Jian Jie grasping my hands kept on playing back in my mind.
After Jian Jie had been admitted into our hospital, I increased the dosage of the vaccine. A few days later, her pain was almost gone. As one working in the media, she instinctively was concerned about the publicity of the hospital. From her ward on the 8th floor she went up to my office on the 9th floor and told me that she had asked a photographer to shoot a video recording on the whole of her treatment process in our hospital; she would write the scripts of a TV series called “Life’s Calling”!
Ten days after the National Day, I was on leave and returned to my home in Shanghai. Suddenly, Dr. Feng, the vice president of the hospital, called and told me that Jian Jie was experiencing a serious pain. He asked me for advice. I found out that this was because the ward doctor reduced the dosage of the vaccine after he found that Jian Jie was experiencing less pain. I asked Dr. Mu Feng to increase the dosage of the composite vaccine and the subcutaneous injection should be given near the tumor; the purpose was to let the immune system stimulated directly by vaccine.
Three days later, I called Jian Jie in the ward but received no reply. I called the nurses’ office and was told that Jian Jie and her fellow patients had gone to the rooftop garden for a walk and chit-chat.
After my leave, I returned to the hospital and found that Jian Jie had been discharged. On a Sunday, I led two vice-presidents and the director of the biological treatment centre to visit Jian Jie. We drove to the residential apartment situated at Futian District, Shenzhen. When we went up to her apartment unit on the 28th floor, Jian Jie was at the door waiting for us. Her sister was also there. The sister offered us some tea while Jian Jie offered us some apples earnestly. I asked Jian Jie how she was feeling and whether she still had pain. She replied smilingly that she could now join me for a 2km walk without any problem. Her sister pointed at the windows facing the main hall and told us that Jian Jie had in many occasions wanted to commit suicide by jumping through the window.
Sometime in April 2009 while I was attending a conference overseas, I received a message from Xiaomei. She told me, “Dear Professor Xu, Jian Jie had departed from this world peacefully. She died of liver cirrhosis with upper gastrointestinal bleeding; she did not die of cancer. Her husband asked me to convey his thanks to you because it is you who had made her live with dignity before she died, and she died with dignity!”