One day in April 2008, Hu Xiao-Mei from Shenzhen phoned me; she was sobbing. She said, “All of us in our family are in great distress because my father is suffering from liver cancer!” I comforted her and asked her to bring her father to Guangzhou immediately.
Xiao-Mei is a celebrity. Ten years ago, as “The Gold Award Winner” radio host for the programme “The Night is Not Lonely” in Radio Shenzhen, she was one of the top ten “Golden Microphone Award” winners and became very popular among people along the Pearl River Delta. Some time in the 1900’s, I was once invited to be a guest to her radio programme. However, in recent years we seldom keep in touch. She has published several autobiographical essays that make me admire and applaud her talent. She once told me about her family. Her parents got married during the chaotic period of 1960’s and went through all the woes together. They gave birth to Xiao-Mei and her sister. Both the parents have retired from Jiangxi and settled down in Shenzhen. Her sister is working in the advertising division of Shenzhen Media Group. Xiao-Mei has a loving husband and a nine years old son and they are living happily together until a calamity struck the family. Xiao-Mei broke down in tears and pleaded me to save her father.
In the subsequent lengthy article published in the Health News, Xiao-Mei described how she was feeling during that time of trouble:
“I remember vividly that one morning in April 2008, while I was in the midst of a crowded lift at the radio station I received a phone call informing me that my father had come down with cancer. It was such a thunderous shock that I almost fainted. I held on to a nearby person to keep my balance. The image of the father of my best friend, Xiao Zhao, flashed through my mind. Xiao Zhao’s father had been tormented by liver cancer that reduced his body weight to slightly more than 60kg. He had colorectal cancer with liver metastasis that resulted in resection of the anal. With a medical pouch hanging around his waist, he lay on his bed immobile. He could not take in food orally and relied on tube feeding. His greatest desire was for his family members to sit him on a wheelchair and push him to the front door so that he could puff on a cigarette. He was badly tormented by the sickness but he remained a very tenacious old man. He held on to life till the final moment grasping at every single hope of life. He told his daughter, “Send me for another course of chemotherapy. I can withstand it!”
Within the two years period from the time of diagnosis till the day he passed away, Xiao Zhao and her mother were very sad. The most severe agony one has to endure is to watch helplessly that one’s loved one is tormented to death by his/her sickness. There is heartbreak and helplessness that no one can comfort. The process of the extremely painful torment almost knocked Xiao Zhao and her mother down, both financially and psychologically and they were at the brink of collapse. As an observer all I could do was to listen attentively and sympathize with them.
I could not imagine such a horrible thing would happen to our family, too. In a state of helplessness, the first person who came to comfort me was Xiao Zhao. I asked her if the treatment could be that painful. She answered in the affirmative and that there was nothing else the hospital could do.
Though our hearts were filled with anxiety and fear, we pretended to be relaxed and tried to conceal the secret from my father. However, my father was an observant person. From our eyes, he sensed that something was amiss. We went round looking for help and trying our luck. All the doctors gave the same diagnosis – Advanced primary multiple liver cancer and unresectable. The only treatment was interventional chemotherapy and he could survive for another four to six months at most.
Every night I had nightmare and woke up screaming. In desperation, I suddenly recalled Professor Xu Kecheng of Fuda Cancer Hospital, Guangzhou. I remembered that many years ago, I helped to appeal to the public for donation to help two cancer patients in his hospital. I phoned Professor Xu and described to him my father’s symptoms and sought his advice. At that time, Professor Xu was giving medical talks abroad. In a sincere and earnest tone, he told me, “Xiao-Mei, no matter which hospital you choose to send your father to, from what you have related to me, your father is suffering from chronic liver disease and hence his liver functions are weakened. Please remember that he must not undergo chemotherapy!”
I was very confused and puzzled at that time. Besides surgery, the other options for cancer treatment were chemotherapy and radiotherapy. If surgery was not possible and chemotherapy and radiotherapy were not the options, what else could be done?
Although I was very much confused, I believed what Professor Xu said. I remembered that in a live broadcast more than a decade ago, Professor Xu, in the same sincere and earnest tone, warned the listeners not to believe in the so called “da xiao san yang gene therapy” as it was a pack of lies. As soon as he had walked out of the main door of the radio station, he was besieged and intimidated by several people saying, “Professor Xu, we know your talk was science-based. However, do not block others from making money! Watch out for your own life and safety as well as that of your family members!”
Xiao-Mei together with her husband and mother brought the father to our hospital. I looked at the CT films and noticed that there were multiple tumors of different sizes in the liver numbering from a dozen. The blood alpha-fetoprotein count was 200mcg. Although I had devoted myself in the study of liver cancer for decades, it was always traumatic whenever I saw a liver cancer patient. I would recall a scene forty years ago while I was attending to a patient, I suddenly received news that my mother had come to see me. I rushed back to my living quarters and was stunned by what I saw; I had not seen my mother for a few months and now she looked haggard with her hands clutching her right upper abdomen. I immediately touched her abdomen. My heart broke as I noticed a large mass in the right upper abdomen. My mother had advanced liver cancer and she had less than three months of life left! I did not care whether I was a digestive disease specialist nor I cared that it would be a fruitless effort, I still invited several specialists from Shanghai for consultation. My mother had sacrificed all her life to raise me up. Before I could repay her, she passed away at the age of less than sixty leaving me and young siblings behind. When I saw Xiao-Mei who was standing in front of me and trying to hold back her tears, I was in great agony. She was leaning on my shoulders and I could feel her trembling. Xiao-Mei said, “Professor Xu, you must save my father. My sister and I could not do without him.”
For the type of liver cancer Xiao-Mei’s father was suffering from, surgery is not feasible, chemotherapy will do more harm than good, and radiotherapy will be ineffective. Although cryoablation is effective for liver cancer, it is applicable when there are only a few tumors. For Xiao-Mei, I had no turning back; I would find a way out of no way. I decided to use combined immunotherapy hoping that there would be tumors dormancy and achieve the state of a peaceful coexistence between tumors and the body.
I do not know whether it was by the grace of God or by the power of love that the result turned up to be highly satisfactory. Just like what Xiao-Mei said in her book entitled ‘Benevolence, Love and Solutions’: “When surgery was not feasible and neither chemotherapy nor radiotherapy were given, my father was pulled back from the cliff of death. He has outlived the time predicted by the doctor. His cheeks are rosy and he lives his life enthusiastically. His liver tumor markers and AFP have returned to normal. In the morning he would play the flute in a park and in the afternoon he would play table tennis in a club. Weekends he would go fishing and play cards. Nobody would believe that he is an advanced cancer patient.”
November 2009, I visited Xiao-Mei’s parents at their house in Shenzhen. Their unit was at the second floor of a thirty-storey apartment in quiet vicinity. It consisted of two bedrooms and a living room. One of the two rooms was turned into a music room. Flutes and erhu of various sizes were displayed inside the music room. Xiao-Mei’s father was the flute player for the vicinity and was always invited to perform and entertain the public and shared the joy together. In the top shelf of a cupboard at one end of the room were many table tennis bats. Xiao-Mei’s mother told me excitedly that her husband was the table tennis coach of the vicinity, and he played the game in the community activity room for two hours each day. Upon learning that I was there, both Xiao-Mei and her sister rushed to their parents’ unit. Xiao-Mei said, “After he has regained his health, my father changes his life perspective and characters completely. Formerly he was a workaholic and took care of everything. Now he is an entertainer.” Xiao-Mei’s dad was laughing most of the time. He led me to the corridor and showed me with pride the gold fish in the aquarium, rabbits and white mouse that he reared.
There was a U.S movie called “Life as a House” about the life of a cancer patient during the last four month of his life. With crazy passion, he demolished his house and rebuilt it again. He ‘kept his life safe’ in the house. Seeing that Xiao-Mei’s father has been cured (or medically speaking – ‘improved’ rather than ‘cured’) and the joy it brings to the family. Don’t we, who are doctors, realize that the medical profession is a high calling?
As doctors or nurses, we must be good in touching the heart of others and be touched ourselves. Xiao-Mei’s genuine love for his father touched us, and we, after being touched, did something to touch the hearts of others who in turn touched many other people. That was what Xiao-Mei termed as the ‘Touching Multiplier Effect’.
As Xiao-Mei said, “Ever since my father was taken ill, I had to step into the life circle of cancer patients involuntarily. As I met more and more cancer patients and their relatives, I began to see what a tremendous suffering sickness could bring to a family. I saw each of them did possess a great determination to live and how hard they struggled at the brink of death. I saw all the fear, hope, tears and joy of having a new lease of life; I also witnessed how human nature was being distorted and eroded by the devil of illness. These “comrades” of mine who were previously total strangers to me comforted and cheered one another up daily. We also mutually supported and helped one another. We were all in the same boat; a brotherly support was especially valuable! Bidding farewell was one thing that we all hoped to avoid. As we bid farewell to a fallen warrior, we were all in great grief. It hurts us right into our heart. Whenever I looked heavily burdened at home, my husband would tell me that if I could not bear it, I must as well not to get in touch too much with it!”
“ Dear sister Xiao-Mei, last night Dr. Wang, the physician attending to my father, sent me a text message telling us that the test result of AFP done on last Monday was 4! We found it difficult to believe and asked for reconfirmation. It is really by God’s grace that he met President Xu. The result was exciting. Although the road to prevent recurrence is still far away, we are in the company of one another. Having uncle and President Xu as the role models, we feel the reality.” ( Li Zhenzhen of Phoenix TV)
“Hi, Xiao-Mei! How are you? My father was warded for five days only in Professor Xu’s hospital. For half a year he could not lie flat on bed and neither could he sleep. He had frequent fever. But all these problems were resolved within the five days. He is very happy and sings in his room. He sleeps well throughout the night. Thank you for sharing the journey your father has gone through! Xiao-Mei, I want to tell you good news. My father asked for food today. Previously he had no appetite for food and when we were around, we would force him to eat a little. Today, he asked for some chicken meat. I am very happy. I wish to thank Professor Xu from the bottom of my heart for his care and concern. Before his admission to Fuda Cancer Hospital, my father was hospitalized in a local hospital for more than twenty days. When the doctors saw that he had fever and coughed out blood clots, they became panicky and got so confused that they did not know what to do. They could only manage to put it under control temporarily. We had no choice but to bring him home. Three days later we sent him to be under the care of Professor Xu. He miraculously recovered. I am very happy! Today, immediately after he had come out of the plane, Professor Xu went straight to see my father. We were very grateful and we will always remember how kind all of you are.” (Xiaotang of Shaoguan)
“Yes, it is a very difficult experience- while we hope, and my father also shares the same hope, to see our warriors defeat their diseases, at the same time we are scared to see our comrades fall. Their departure will make our hope seem so distant. This is an unbearable burden for life. We are like pendulum swinging between hope and despair. What type of determination and perseverance do we need to continue walking along this road tenaciously?”