For cancer patients, the hardest part is facing the threat of death. People will always die. Death is the common end of mankind. It is life's changing agent and the beginning of a new life. That being said, nobody wants to die, even living to a hundred years old then dying is still somewhat tragic. As the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs once said, “Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there.”
On January 13, 2012, the Spring Festival party of our hospital was held at the hall of the north district. Cancer patients from Guangdong Provincial Light of Life Society for Cancer Rehabilitation were performing dancing & singing “No One Less” (Figure 27), which was moving:
Life is like grass, growing, twisting and turning.
Life is like a bud, blooming after tenacious ground break.
Life is like sea water, seemingly inconsiderable but vastly important.
Life is like a cup of wine, containing all kinds of tastes.
The preciousness of life lies in never yielding, the meaning of life is
self-improvement.
Purposeful life should work hard for a better future, endless life should always keep moving forward; tenacious life should hold on to the last, immeasurable life should always be treasured. When the party was over, I walked onto the stage, hugging, greeting and shaking hands with all the cancer patients. At that moment, we had no complaints or sorrows. We were all cancer patients, although we did not know whether we could perform on this stage next year. It was not important, because endless life should always be treasured.
When the party was over, I walked onto the stage, hugging, greeting and shaking hands with all the cancer patients. At that moment, we had no complaints or sorrows. We were all cancer patients, although we did not know whether we could perform on this stage next year. It was not important, because endless life should always be treasured.
“The meaning of life is self-improvement”, which summarizes the view of most cancer patients.
After surgery, my greatest wish was to live on. I hoped I could finish several books and treat more cancer patients before I left this world. As previously described, I flew, two weeks after the stitches were taken out from my wounds, to Malaysia to visit the patient with an ‘Elephant Face’ whom the Sin Chew Daily newspaper called for help from the world. I had hoped that the patients we treated could live longer and lead a meaningful life.
From 2007, I began a process of visiting patients at home and abroad. In China, I visited a total of forty-six patients treated in our hospital from Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi Province and eleven patients from thirteen states in Malaysia. I once spent one week by plane or car visiting twenty-six patients in Indonesia, which was travelling more than five thousand kilometres. I visited not only cancer patients, but also non-cancer patients. An ethnic Chinese patient's family sent me a message, praising me as a “Chinese Medical Sage, the pride of descendants of the dragon”.
On the 8th of January 2012, my colleagues and I went to Ming Zai’s home, three hundred kilometres from Guangzhou, a remote small mountainous village named Erdu in Huaiji County. It was my fourth visit there. The first time was in May 2002 when Ming Zai returned home shortly after treatment in our hospital. He suffered from huge malignant teratoma on his neck which was considered incurable, but he was treated in our hospital. This time I went to Ming Zai’s home, the path was still as before too narrow and one could barely pass through it. But Ming Zai’s house had been replaced by a two-story building. Ming Zai was taller, scars left after the tumor removal on his jaw and neck caused difficulty in talking and eating. I would like to offer plastic surgery for him during the holiday. I walked into the room of Ming Zai where there was only a small bed, a table with a lot of books on it, several junior high school textbooks and a few oncology books. I opened a book and asked him to read for me. He could read smoothly ‘What is cancer’ and ‘what is a malignant tumor’ Before I always thought that Ming Zai was quiet, in fact he was full of enthusiasm. When I asked him why he read oncology books when he was still a sophomore of junior high school he said, “Grandpa, you cured my cancer, I want to repay you and the society in the future, I would like to be a doctor as you to serve patients.” (Figure 28)
What Ming Zai said revealed most cancer patients’ inner thoughts. They are not only hoping to prolong their own lives, but also willing to serve others and make contributions to the society with their limited life. During the Spring Festival of 2012, I spent my holiday with my children and grandchildren in Bali, Indonesia. My grandson caught a cold, so an Indonesian friend accompanied us to a nearby clinic. It was already past ten at night, the clinic had a doctor, two nurses and a pharmacist, a patient was receiving treatment. The doctor enthusiastically pointed out where we could buy medicine. My Indonesian friend told me how there was a lack of clinics such as this one. The Minister of Health, Dr. Endang spared no efforts to work towards all Indonesian villages having a clinic and doctors in the coming years. I remembered sending an email to remind her not to delay treatments two weeks ago, she replied, “I am terribly busy with domestic and foreign affairs… ”
In Bali, I read by chance an article of Dr. Endang’s published in an Indonesian magazine, Dangan Kanker (Figure 29). I asked an Indonesian friend to translate it from Indonesian to Chinese, it read:
Cancer is frightening, but for cancer patients and their families, it is unavoidable. We can only regard cancer as an ordeal from God. Although the incidence of cancer will increase because of environmental pollution, unhealthy food and bad personal habits and other factors, we still can achieve early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment, which will not only have better therapeutic effects, but also reduce expenses. The Ministry of Health and some social groups have done a lot to promote work in this area.
I was an advanced lung cancer patient, but I kept fighting against cancer, the disease has been under control. Now my condition is good, I lead a normal life with physical exercise and working as usual. But I cannot say that I am a cancer free, I still need to keep coexisting with cancer. It seems that we are capable of a peaceful coexistence with cancer.
My illness prompted me to cherish time and make more efforts to improve Indonesia's medical conditions, especially medical insurance for the poor and to improve the cancer prevention and anti-cancer work.
In my opinion, life would be more meaningful if while you can do the things that benefit the community whilst living longer.
I finally understood why our Minister of Health Chen Zhu appreciated the Minister Endang. Both carried a philosophy that “endless life always keeps moving forward”. The Minister Endang was not only the winner of a cancer battle, but also a model of noble virtues.