Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital completed the 100th case of NanoKnife on March 8, 2016. The 100th patient who has received NanoKnife was Gregerson Gurli, a 68-year-old retired teacher from Denmark. Ms. Gurli was found to have multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms in liver during a recent examination and then she came to Fuda Cancer Hospital for NanoKnife, during which three masses in liver were ablated at one time. On March 17, Gurli was discharged from hospital upon recovery. Gurli has been to China for 10 times since 2008. She has survived for over 8 years after underwent comprehensive treatments, including cryoablation and NanoKnife and etc.
The death sentence
In 2007, Ms. Gurli felt frequent dull pain in upper abdomen. She did examination, which suggested that there was a 2.8cm large mass in pancreas and three masses in liver. She almost got shocked by the accident findings. She underwent biopsy in the largest hospital in Denmark. One week later, the biopsy result came out and she was diagnosed with pancreatic malignant cancer with liver metastases. Her doctor did not hide the diagnosis from her and told her that she could do chemotherapy. But whatever treatment she would receive, she only had two to three months to live.
She underwent chemotherapy though she knew the treatment wouldn~t bring any actual benefits to her but it seemed to be a must-go conventional therapy for every cancer patient. She had been worried about the side effects of chemotherapy every day. She had planned to leave the world after losing all her hair so as not to inflict any pain to her husband and daughters.
A new hope
Ms. Gurli’s husband is a designer and they had two daughters and four grandsons. Her families could not understand and even were angry at doctor~s warning. They wanted to send Gurli to foreign hospital. Gurli~s daughter reviewed worldwide literature but she found the longest survival time for pancreatic cancer patient is about 3 to 6 months and the only treatment for malignant pancreatic cancer is chemotherapy. With despair, she cried secretly. Several days later, she read an article on the internet written by Lena, telling about her anti-cancer experience in China. She underwent surgery in Denmark due to chondrocyte osteogenic sarcoma. However, her condition progressed after surgery and she suffered paralysis in lower limbs… She came to Guangzhou Fuda Cacner Hospital and had her condition controlled after received cryosurgery. Gurli~s daughter consulted Lena and made up her mind to send her mother to China.
When her doctor in Denmark heard that Gurli planned to go to China, he bluntly said, “You are crazy!” Doctor did not persuade Gurli out of it. She and her husband sold their big house in the center of Copenhagen and bought a smaller apartment in order to raise medical expenses. Then they took a direct flight to Guangzhou, China.
The miracle happened
After she was admitted to Fuda Cancer Hospital, her medical team at FUDA carried out percutaneous cryosurgery and iodine seeds implantation therapy for her. One month later, when she went back to FUDA for examination, she brought with her three “gifts”, the first gift was a copy of newspaper that was most circulated in Denmark, which illustrated her treatment experience at FUDA in the full page; the second gift was a VCD, which was “the full record of Gurli~s treatment” made by Denmark TV 2; the third gift was the CT scan films that she had done in Denmark, which showed that liver metastases had disappeared and pancreatic tumor shrunk by two third.
The story turned out to be like this: the news that Gurli got treated at FUDA was learned by Danish journalists, who filmed and covered her cancer treatment experience at FUDA. Hence, she became an anti-cancer celebrity and member of Sino-Danish Friendship Association. She was often invited to deliver speeches on the theme of “China-My Home” in Denmark. Fuda Cancer Hospital has gained increasing popularity among Danes. From 2008 to now, over 100 Danish patients have received treatment at Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital.
Prof. Xu Kecheng, Chief President of Fuda Cancer Hospital, paid a visit to Denmark at invitation in 2014. “When I landed at the airport and saw Gurli and her relative waiting for me while waving Chinese national flag, I felt so proud and dignified at that moment. It~s really a touching moment to have a foreign patient greeting me, a Chinese doctor, by waving Chinese national flag in a foreign land.” Xu Kecheng said emotionally.
In May, 2014, Ms. Gurli and Prof. Xu Kecheng, Chief President of Fuda Cancer Hospital went to Beijing together. On May 22, 2014, the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the CPC awarded Xu Kecheng “the Model of the Times” and held the award ceremony at CCTV. Ms. Gurli was invited to attend the ceremony as a special guest and was seated in the middle of the front row among the audience. Jing Yidan, a famous hostess, hosted the award ceremony. When the video clip that Gurli get treated at FUDA was played, the camera turned to Gurli, whose eyes were filled with tears.
Two weeks later, CCTV-1 aired the award ceremony of Role Model of the Times. On the next day, CCTV News and Focus Interview reported the news and interview of Xu Kecheng, among which the image of Ms. Gurli was quiet eye-catching. Gurli was very happy and she recorded the clip, watched it over and over again.
Paying frequent visits to home
Xu Kecheng, Chief President of FUDA went to Room 425 in the 4th ward in early morning of August 3, 2015. Ms. Gurli, who came back to FUDA for re-examination, got off bed quickly and hugged President Xu Kecheng tightly at the sight of him. Looking at each other, Gurli greeted, “How have you been?” President Xu Kecheng said, “Very good. And you?” She replied, “What do you say?” She has a rosy complexion with a great air. She did not look like a cancer patient at all.
It was the 8th time for her to be in China. She also had her 14-year-old grandson as her company. She said Fuda Cancer Hospital is her home in China and she would like her grandson to feel the warmth of her home in China.
Recently, Ms. Gurli has been found to have multiple neuroendocrine tumors in liver. There were three tumors detected, the largest was about 5cm in size and the other two were about 4cm and 2cm in size respectively. Considering that the masses are big in size and are close to important structures as hepatic diaphragm dome and hepatic hilus, Prof. Niu Lizhi decided to ablate the masses with NanoKnife that is able to deliver higher safety and less side effects.
The NanoKnife was done on March 8, 2016. Under the guidance of ultrasound and CT scan, Prof. Niu punctured the two NanoKnife probes into the base of tumor for ablation. Then the probes were relocated to ablate the other two masses. The screen clearly showed that the masses became necrosis and gasification after ablation; small bubbles were formed; the previous high-density echo became lower…The masses in liver were ablated at one time. The procedure went smoothly.
Xu Kecheng, Chief President of FUDA noted, “I have four thoughts on Gurli~s anti-cancer experience. Firstly, the comprehensive treatment model proposed by FUDA can prolong the life of advanced cancer patients; secondly, we have introduced and integrated the treatments from western countries and in return applied them to treat patients from western countries, which is a fine example of the elevation of China~s soft power; thirdly, as a member of Sino-Danish Friendship Association, Ms. Gurli is often invited to deliver speech in Denmark on the theme of ~China–My Home~, in which way FUDA has won greater popularity among foreigners. Fourth, Gurli is a fine example of the concept of living with cancer as she has survived for over 8 years after receiving comprehensive treatments at FUDA for pancreatic cancer.”