Mo Xiaofeng's Story

Mo Xiaofeng is a 16-year-old girl from Shangkeng Village, Huaiji County, Guangdong Province. After one cycle of chemotherapy, Xiaofeng seemed to be okay except abdominal distension after meal and edema in ankles. Xiaofeng, a top student at school, often asked his father, “when can I go back to school?”

Her parents were very worried about Xiaofeng as there was a “bomb” that might explode at any time in her body. Her parents had been consoling her that she would recover and go back to school soon instead of telling her the diagnosis and the severity of the disease. They had been under huge mental pressure but had to pretend nothing happened.

Xiaofeng’s story can be traced back to March 2009 when she stumbled on a mass in middle to upper abdomen. According to biopsy, she was diagnosed with solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas (SPN), a rare exocrine tumor of pancreas. It is known to all that pancreatic cancer is called the King of Cancer, let alone such a rare pancreatic tumor. The couple was hit by the blow of fate. Xiaofeng underwent operation.

 

In May 2014, Xiaofeng had such symptoms as abdominal distension, upper abdominal pain, edema in ankle and fever. These symptoms aggravated day by day. Xiaofeng’s father brought her to Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center for examination, which showed metastases were found as spleen enlarged significantly and multiple masses were found in liver.

Xiaofeng’s father brought her to Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital as the last resort in June 2014. Xiaofeng’s symptoms relieved significantly after she underwent interventional embolization, cryosurgery and chemoablation therapy.

 

While medical workers were making further treatment plan, Xiaofeng was discharged.

 

Doctor Huang Zhifeng, Xiaofeng’s chief doctor told Xiaofeng’s story to President Xu. He remembered that the 16-year-old girl had been addressing him “Grandpa Xu” and told him to strike a balance between work and life when he was making rounds every day. Xu Kecheng was wondered why she discharged against medical advice when it was the best time for treatment.

 

Xu Kecheng and Huang Zhifeng drove over 3 hours to see Xiaofeng in October 18. Xiaofeng’s home was located in a small hill of Shikeng Village. Xioafeng was teaching her two little brothers at home. Her mother rushed home from the fields to welcome him. It was until then did Xu Kecheng knew why Xiaofeng discharged against doctor’s medical advice.

Xiaofeng’s parents are diligent and honest farmers. They only have meager income from the crops and from odd jobs. There are elderly parents, five children in her family. Xiaofeng is the third children; her youngest brother was just enrolled into primary school and the eldest sister was in her third year in high school. Though Xiaofeng’s parents are farmers, they knew very well the importance of education. Hence, they have sent their children to school though they are not well-off. The five children have been very sensible, especially Xiaofeng. She studied very hard and kept among the ten top students in her grade every year.

Prof. Xu Kecheng(R1), Doctor Huang Zhifeng visited Mo Xiaofeng at her home(L3). Mo Xiaofeng’s father (L1) 

However, Mo Xiaofeng’s education was finished in 2009 when she was diagnosed with cancer. As her classmates were preparing for senior high school entrance examination, Xiaofeng had to stay in the hospital bed.

The parents were caught unprepared by Xiaofeng’s disease. They were under huge mental pressure as they were worried about her disease but had to pretend nothing happened. The financial burden had also become worse. The family’s already meager income could barely support their tuition fee and daily expenses, let alone Xiaofeng’s medical expenses. What should they do?

The couple had no way out but to reduce their daily expense to the minimum and borrow money from relatives in order to raise money for Xiaofeng’s operation. However, things did not work out. The things that they worried about the most finally happened five years later. Even if Fuda has reduced unnecessary treatments and examinations, the medical expenses still stood at 80,000RMB. The family had no way out but to bring Xiaofeng back home as they did not have enough money for her treatment. The family was reduced to despair again. As Xiaofeng knew nothing about her disease, she often asked her father when she could go back to school. His father just told her there was something wrong in her body but she would recover soon as he could not bear to tell her that she might never be able to go back to school again.

As her condition was deteriorating and her frequent visit to hospital, Xiaofeng finally learned her condition and she stopped asking father when she could go back to school.

Xu Kecheng was saddened to learn the news. It suddenly dawned on him that Xu Kecheng Health Care Studio that was established by Civilization Office of Tianhe District Committee in June 2014 has helped two impoverished cancer patients, namely Han Bingbing and Luo Caizhi. He wanted to make Mo Xiaofeng the third beneficiary of the studio. Though the tumor was located in pancreas, it was different from common pancreatic cancer as it has special features. If given appropriate treatment, Xiaofeng can coexist with tumor for a long time and gain a better quality of life.

 

Under such circumstances, Xu Kecheng called for the society to raise money for Mo Xiaofeng. Though a total of 30,000RMB was raised, it was still fall far short of the expected medical expenses that stood at 180,000RMB. 

Mo Xiaofeng was fetched back to Fuda Cancer Hospital in order not to delay her treatment. Xiaofeng’s tumor shrank after she underwent interventional therapy, argon-helium cryosurgery, and percutaneous ethanol injection therapy, Now, Xiaofeng can walk as a normal person. She has regained a new life with the help of Xu Kecheng and people from all walks of life.