Mother Successfully Achieves Sphincter Preservation and cCR After Low Rectal Cancer: My Most Sudden Growth | Patient Story

“When I was sick as a child, my parents rushed me to the hospital at midnight without complaint. Now that they are ill, they often feel they are letting us down...”

This lingering guilt has been Youwei's heaviest burden since her mother's diagnosis. She wonders why aging parents always feel indebted, as if illness were an intrusion on their children's lives rather than a bodily warning.

As parents step into the role of the cared-for, children become the ones making decisions and providing a safety net. Traditional family roles quietly reverse through one unexpected crisis after another.

A sudden cancer diagnosis pushes the once-protected child to the center of the family. For children of cancer patients, growth is not linear; it happens in an instant at the ward door, in front of treatment consent forms, and in the corridors between hospitals.

Author | Dun'er
Editor | Dun'er
Reviewer | Guangguang

「 I. Colorectal Cancer Misdiagnosed as Hemorrhoids 」

On July 15, 2024, a "bonus" colonoscopy revealed a low rectal tumor in Youwei's mother.

"My mother was originally scheduled for a gastroscopy due to gastroesophageal reflux. Since she was already getting anesthesia, we decided to do a colonoscopy as well," Youwei said. "We never expected the issue to be in her intestines."

Youwei's mother lives in Yichang, Hubei, where eating smoked meat and pickled vegetables is a long-standing habit. In hindsight, this may have been one of the contributing factors to her colorectal cancer.

The condition could have been detected much earlier. In 2022, Youwei took her parents for a full-body checkup, which showed a weak positive for fecal occult blood. She specifically urged them to get a follow-up colonoscopy.

Perhaps for convenience, her parents went to a nearby county hospital. "The colonoscopy report only mentioned internal hemorrhoids with no other abnormalities. I asked the doctor why there was occult blood if everything else was normal. He said it was just from the hemorrhoids."

For nearly two years prior, her mother had already experienced several symptoms: irregular bowel movements, rectal bleeding, and occasional tissue prolapse from the anus that she had to push back in manually. In hindsight, these were classic symptoms of ultra-low rectal cancer—the tumor was only two to three centimeters from the dentate line, a special location where early signs are easily confused with hemorrhoids.

It was this misdiagnosis at the county hospital that delayed treatment for two years, a blow that deeply affected Youwei.

「 II. The Difficult Journey of 'Sphincter Preservation for Low Rectal Cancer' 」

After the diagnosis, Youwei took her mother to several hospitals. Because her mother had been taking aspirin, they had to wait seven days for a pathological biopsy. Combined with registration and consultations, half a month slipped away in anxious waiting.

What broke their spirits was that the attending doctor had confidently promised to remove the tumor via endoscopic surgery. Yet on the day of the procedure, her mother was wheeled out of the operating room in less than 20 minutes. "The tumor wasn't removed at all. My dad completely broke down."

More agonizing than the treatment plan itself was the question of sphincter preservation. From the start, her mother firmly refused any surgery that would not preserve her anus. "She told us that if she had to live with a stoma bag, she might even consider ending her own life."

With her mother's treatment stalled, Youwei began searching online for information about colorectal cancer. During this time, she joined the "Panda and Friends" Hubei group. Based on the colonoscopy results, a volunteer named Youli added her to the "Low 4 Group."

"Youli shared my mother's report with other volunteers and told me it was likely at a T3 stage."

Sphincter preservation for ultra-low rectal cancer is highly challenging, and radiotherapy techniques directly impact treatment outcomes and preservation success rates. Following Youli's advice to "seek radiotherapy at a better hospital," Youwei turned her attention to Wuhan Union Hospital.

「 III. The UNION Model Reignites Hope for Treatment 」

On July 30, Youwei brought her mother's test results to Professor Lin's clinic at Wuhan Union Hospital. After Youwei detailed her mother's condition and strong desire for sphincter preservation, Professor Lin immediately recommended the UNION model—short-course radiotherapy + chemotherapy + immunotherapy. Youwei was already familiar with this regimen from the Panda group.

The UNION model is a neoadjuvant treatment protocol pioneered by Wuhan Union Hospital for locally advanced rectal cancer. Its core lies in introducing immune checkpoint inhibitors alongside traditional chemoradiotherapy. Especially for microsatellite-stable (MSS) patients who typically do not respond well to immunotherapy alone, the UNION regimen can precisely target the tumor, significantly increase the pathological complete response (pCR) rate, and maximize the preservation of anal function, greatly improving sphincter preservation success.

Outside Professor Lin's clinic that day, Youwei met an auntie from her hometown. "This auntie had been under Professor Lin's care using the UNION model and had already completed treatment with excellent recovery." When Youwei mentioned her mother's condition, she couldn't help but cry. "The auntie told me, 'Just trust Professor Lin and follow the treatment.' That sense of familiarity and trust from a fellow townsman instantly dispelled all her doubts."

"Neoadjuvant therapy gave us another option," Youwei said. "If we try everything and it still doesn't work, we can always consider local excision or radical surgery later."

Professor Lin designed a regimen of 5 sessions of short-course radiotherapy plus 6 cycles of "CAPOX + Camrelizumab" chemoradiotherapy for Youwei's mother. This reignited the family's hope, and a relay of care between Wuhan and Yichang began:

During the treatment period in Wuhan, Youwei shouldered the burden of hospital visits and doctor coordination. Back home, her sister commuted 80 kilometers daily, carefully managing their parents' daily needs while also tutoring her child at night. No matter how late her sister returned, her brother-in-law was always there waiting. For every treatment session, the father stayed by his wife's side, offering steadfast companionship that grounded the whole family.

[After chemotherapy, feeling unwell, the mother leans on her father's shoulder]

「 IV. A Series of Severe Side Effects 」

On August 23, Youwei's mother completed her 5-day short-course radiotherapy, followed by side effects that lasted throughout September: tenesmus caused by radiation enteritis. She had to rush to the bathroom dozens of times a day, peaking in late September with up to 50 trips in a single day.

Never expecting her physical condition to deteriorate so much after treatment, and seeing her mother's emotions nearing a breaking point, Youwei quickly followed group members' recommendations to buy Hudi capsules and Honggudou. She also consulted multiple experts via online telemedicine and tried various methods. "I bought out the local pharmacy's stock of Honggudou. Eventually, the clerk just asked, 'How many boxes do you need this time?'"

By early October, the frequent bathroom trips finally eased. However, in late November, a new issue arose: rectal bleeding. A colonoscopy revealed an active bleeding point in the irradiated area, along with significant intestinal edema.

To help stop the bleeding, Youwei learned enema techniques from hospital nurses and her nurse cousin. The whole family mastered it. They tried Mesalazine, Metronidazole, and hemostatic drugs, experimenting with every possible method. "We never knew which one finally worked, but by the January 2025 follow-up, the bleeding point had finally disappeared."

「 V. Seeing the Dawn of cCR Through the Turbulence 」

Everything was moving in a positive direction. At the end of the second chemotherapy cycle, Youwei received good news from the radiologist. The tumor had downstaged from T3 to T1-T2, with indications of a possible clinical complete response (cCR).

In January 2025, her mother completed all 6 cycles of chemoradiotherapy, reaching a critical evaluation point. All indicators and imaging suggested cCR had been achieved. "But then my mother fell and fractured a bone at home." The planned PET-CT scan was delayed.

During her recovery at home, delayed side effects from immunotherapy emerged. Nearly two months post-treatment, her creatine kinase and thyroid-stimulating hormone levels spiked significantly.

Although Professor Lin had given a positive assessment, Youwei dared not let her guard down. She frequently urged her mother to go for regular checkups and showed her scans to multiple experts for verification.

After repeatedly confirming that all indicators were normal, in May 2025, Youwei finally decided to share the good news in the group: "Only then did I dare to tell everyone that my mother achieved cCR."

[MRI scans at diagnosis and after completing treatment]

「 VI. When I Became My Parents' 'Pillar' 」

Love is doing your best, yet still feeling you've fallen short. Since her mother's illness, Youwei often felt she hadn't done enough.

"I couldn't afford better treatments or more expensive drugs, and sometimes I felt guilty. But my parents didn't care about that; they felt their illness was a burden to us."

In October 2024, just as her mother's radiation enteritis was improving, Youwei's father was found to have an "abnormal mass" in his bladder.

Youwei still remembers the day of her father's cystoscopy biopsy. "He was in terrible pain throughout the procedure." Outside the room, she heard him enduring the pain, repeatedly asking the doctor in dialect if his condition was bad. "The doctor didn't understand him, so he couldn't give any clear reassurance."

After leaving the examination room, her father leaned against Youwei's back, inching forward step by step. "He kept apologizing to me and my sister. He said both he and my mom were so sick, and if he really had a terrible disease, what would our family do?" He couldn't help but cry.

Fortunately, the biopsy revealed glandular cystitis. Youwei's sister came from their hometown to accompany him through the resection surgery, while Youwei stayed with her mother for her third treatment cycle.

"All I really hope is that my parents cooperate with the doctors and follow the treatment properly. That is the greatest encouragement for us. As long as our parents are still here, that is the best thing for us children."

Nearly a year after completing treatment, Youwei's mother's life has largely returned to normal. She tends to her garden and manages daily chores at home, and her weight is slowly recovering. Aside from occasional complaints about taking medication, the family's days have gradually returned to the peace they knew before the diagnosis.

Youwei's own recovery came much slower. After her mother's diagnosis, she stopped her monthly routines of dining out with friends, exploring new cafes, and traveling to other cities. In September 2025, she initiated a dinner with friends for the first time, traveling over 30 kilometers across Wuhan for a beef hotpot. "I told my friend then that it felt like I was finally getting back to normal. But at other times, I still tend to keep to myself."

At the end of 2025, Youwei flew to Fuzhou to attend a Steve Chou concert. Standing in the audience, she felt that her mother's illness had temporarily faded from her life.

「 VII. Becoming 'Someone Else's Light' in the Panda Group 」

"The road is tortuous, but the future is bright." Volunteer Youli once encouraged her family with these words.

"Without the Panda group, we might have taken many more detours, or even failed to achieve sphincter preservation," Youwei said. She gained professional answers on treatment choices, side effect management, and dietary adjustments from the group.

After her mother completed treatment, Youwei hoped to help more people in the group. "I may not have learned everything, but I want to share my experience openly to help others avoid unnecessary detours."

The Low 4 Group and the Hubei Group are a loving family, filled with many children like Youwei who rush around for their parents' illnesses. She has much to say to other patients and caregivers.

"I want to tell elderly patients: please don't feel you are a burden to your children. Cooperating actively with treatment is the best way to give back. To all caregivers: patients may become uncooperative when they are suffering. Try to find ways to relieve their discomfort, learn more about the disease, and seek help in the group. When patients feel physically better, they will naturally cooperate with treatment."

"Hope" is not just a slogan, but countless daily moments broken into fine pieces. Like invisible bricks, they quietly build a shelter in the storm.

As parents step into the role of the cared-for, children become the ones giving orders and providing a safety net. The reversal of family roles quietly completes itself through one unexpected crisis after another. The child once led by the hand to the hospital by her parents has now become their crutch.

This so-called "role reversal" is not about one person replacing another, but about love finally forming a circle, holding the family tightly together.

To protect patient privacy, names used in this article are pseudonyms. Images featuring the patient's portrait have been authorized by the patient and may not be used without permission.

- Interactive Topic -
After your parents were diagnosed with cancer, what moment made you feel you suddenly grew up?