A Young Mother's Tenacious Battle Against Late-Stage Gastric Cancer | Panda Group Young Patients Sharing Session
Cancer patients face immense challenges, and young patients even more so.
In the prime of their lives, while striving for career and family, cancer strikes suddenly, often diagnosed at a late stage. Burdened with caring for elders and children, carrying mortgages, yet with little savings, they are forced to pause work, studies, marriage, and childbirth, becoming full-time patients.
While some resign themselves to fate, others choose to redefine the foundation of life with a passionate heartbeat.
In early 2024, Wan'er went to the hospital due to persistent vomiting. Her family suspected pregnancy, but tests revealed a massive gastric tumor with extensive ovarian and peritoneal metastases, so advanced that "doctors hesitated to speak plainly." Weighing only 66 jin (33 kg), this young mother was told by a gastroenterologist, "We can't treat this." She was transferred overnight to Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou. "My fierce spirit kicked in. I rushed to the surgery department, registered, and shouted, 'I want surgery!' The nurses looked at me like I was crazy," she laughs, recalling her first visit.
After diagnosis, this Zhejiang mother with no medical background did two "bold" things: she stayed up all night studying gastric cancer treatment guidelines and secretly signed a clinical trial consent form without telling her family. "When the doctor asked about my finances, I said I was getting by! Truthfully, I'd already calculated it—the clinical trial was a lifeline. If I bet right, it could open a window." Early in treatment, her hemoglobin hovered dangerously around the critical threshold (90g/L). She timed her medication injections precisely to the moment her levels met the target. After 13 chemotherapy cycles, CT scans showed a 60% tumor shrinkage, with metastases nearly gone. Even the doctors marveled, "It's like she's a different person."
In the early hours of December 17, 2024, her seemingly stable treatment took a fatal turn. Staying in a hotel opposite the hospital to prepare for a Panda Group sharing session, she suddenly vomited blood. Rushed to the hospital on a stretcher, she spent three days and nights in the ICU on a ventilator. The bleeding originated from gastric fundus veins invaded by the tumor. The multidisciplinary team's conclusion: there was no way to treat it.
When doctors advised her family to prepare for the worst, Wan'er signed a liability waiver and insisted on seeing the chief surgeon. "I begged him, 'Even if I die on the operating table, it's better than waiting to die in the ICU. Please let me make it through the New Year.'" Wheeled past three medical restrictions, she finally moved the doctor to take the risk. On December 30, 2024, she successfully underwent a total gastrectomy combined with partial bowel resection.
Today, Wan'er continues to write her miracle within the clinical trial. After four post-operative chemotherapy cycles, she developed an "anti-cancer weight-gain guide," gradually bringing her weight from 66 jin back toward a healthy range. "Doctors call me a medical miracle, but I know miracles are earned—I keep eating even when I vomit, smile through the pain, and even guide fellow patients on nutritional support during chemo." This mother, who jokes about her "thickened skin," says: "Who cares about the five-year survival rate? If I can eat, laugh, and gain weight, today is a win!"
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