In the first half of 2002, it was widely reported in the media including the People’s Daily, CCTV and many other newspapers a story on how a lady employer in Shenzhen helped to save the life of a nanny. The event took place in our hospital.
Early March 2002, a former patient of mine, Mdm. Cao, the owner of a company in Shenzhen came to see me. She told me that she engaged a nanny by the name of Zhai Jie from Jiangsu two years ago. Less than a year later, Zhai Jie resigned and left for home because of some family problems. Unfortunately Zhai Jie had lung cancer and underwent lung resection in a hospital in Shanghai. Soon after her discharge, there was a recurrence. She coughed constantly and had unbearable right chest pain and she could not sleep well. Hospital at her home town detected she had right pleural effusion. To add insult to injury, Zhai Jie’s husband was laid off. She was greatly depressed and despair because of her disease and poverty. Many a time she contemplated to commit suicide. Mdm. Cao wanted to send Zhai Jie to our hospital and she would foot the medical bills.
On 7th March 2002, we fetched Zhai Jie from the Baiyun Airport to our hospital. Her breathing rate was more than 40/min and her heartbeat rate was over 130/min. X-ray showed that there was right pleural effusion which pressed against the heart shifting it toward the armpit area. More than 2000ml of hemorrhagic fluid were drawed by thoracentesis. X-ray taken after thoracentesis showed that there was a tumour in the size of a chicken egg at the right lung, the pleural’s surface was unsmooth indicating lung cancer recurrence and pleural metastasis.
Both Mdm. Cao and I were not blood related to Zhai Jie. Mdm. Cao had a heart of love and this touched all our medical staff. Some of our staff made cash donation, some took care of her meals. Zhai Jie became a sister to all of them. The treatment was rather difficult. Another surgery was not possible and neither was systemic chemotherapy because she could not tolerate it. We could only adopt a step by step comprehensive approach to provide the appropriate treatment based on her condition.
Within the next twenty-one days, Zhai Jie, the honest and kind middle-aged lady, was given various therapies. She got better and her chest pain disappeared. She coughed less and most of the recurred tumours had been eradicated. Zhai Jie who was stretchered into the hospital, was discharged on 28th April. The People’s Daily News made a lengthy coverage on this magnificent display of love for a nanny across hundreds of miles.
A year later, Zhai Jie came back to the hospital for medical review. She looked younger and told us that since her return to her home, she did not have any medication and injection. She toured our hospital and happily chatted with us. I truly understand what is meant by leveraging. Just by contributing a small amount of money by each individual to Zhai Jie, her life was saved.