What If It's Late-Stage Colorectal Cancer? Summiting Mount Tai After Two Open Surgeries and Over 20 Chemotherapy Sessions | Patient Story

On May 28, at the Jade Emperor Peak of Mount Tai. The wind swept the mountain mist over the stone steps. Xiao Song stood holding the railing, with continuous mountains under his feet. The nasogastric tube on his face hung down to his collar. He took out a banner prepared in advance. The wind blew the cloth, making a crisp sound, with a line of words particularly striking: Live brilliantly every day.

Looking down from the Jade Emperor Peak, the land of Qilu was a vast green, and the lights of thousands of homes lit up one after one in the distance. Nearly 10,000 steps were left behind. The six hours of climbing felt like walking through the past two and a half years again: diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer, experiencing two open debulking surgeries, over 20 rounds of chemotherapy, and 33 days of bowel obstruction. Just over two months ago, he was still lying in a hospital bed smelling the "scent of death." Tired, so tired, but step by step, he unaware arrived here.

When the mountain is high, man is the peak. Later he wrote in his Moments, "This trip is not to conquer the mountain, but to conquer the self who once wanted to give up."

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Author | Chan Chan

Editor | Chan Chan

Reviewer | Guang Guang

「 I. Diagnosed with Late-Stage Colon Cancer After Eating Dumplings 」

Xiao Song is from Ganyu, Lianyungang, a typical man from northern Jiangsu. Born in 1992, he is 1.81 meters tall and weighs 200 jin. He can eat, work hard, loves making friends, and laughs loudly, living a vibrant life.

The change started with blood in his stool. In the summer of 2023, he noticed blood mixed with purulent secretions. The county hospital diagnosed it as hemorrhoids and prescribed two tubes of ointment. He applied it for two days and then put it aside. Summer farm work was busy; how could he have time to care about such a "minor issue."

After autumn, his left abdomen began to ache with a dropping sensation. Coincidentally, he had a history of stones in his left ureter. Both he and the doctor assumed it was a recurrence of stones and performed a cystolithotomy. The pain temporarily relieved, but the tumor grew wildly under the cover of the stones.

One day in late December, after eating 50 or 60 dumplings, he went out for a run. Suddenly, his abdomen hurt severely. He endured it at home all night, but by morning, the pain was so bad he couldn't stand, so he called an ambulance to the county hospital. After taking laxatives to empty his bowel, the pain relieved again. The next day, the CT results came out, and the doctor's face changed: "There's obviously a problem here. Go to a higher-level hospital; we can't handle this."

After 10 PM that night, he was urgently transferred to Lianyungang First People's Hospital. The enhanced CT was just done, and the official report wasn't out yet. The doctor looked at the screen and pulled him to the inpatient department. It was 11:58 PM. The doctor said, "Tomorrow morning at 8 AM, you are the first surgery."

He thought, "Something's wrong, this is serious, I can't be treated here." After packing, he drove straight to Nanjing at dawn. The first stop was Jiangsu Cancer Hospital. After enhanced CT, colonoscopy, and a series of tests, the results indicated moderately to poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the sigmoid colon with multiple metastases in the abdomen and pelvis. The doctor clearly stated, "Late stage, inoperable, go straight to chemotherapy. First, do a genetic test to see if targeted therapy is possible." Not giving up, he consulted renowned surgical experts in Beijing and Shanghai. The conclusion was the same: inoperable, go back for chemotherapy.

The night before in Lianyungang, the doctor said, "You'll be on the operating table tomorrow"; after running to hospitals in Nanjing, Beijing, and Shanghai, the answer was always "inoperable, chemotherapy first". The completely different plans made him doubtful. Upon questioning, he learned the reason: for late-stage colorectal cancer with multiple abdominal and pelvic metastases and peritoneal implantation, the tumor has spread widely. Direct surgery is not only difficult to achieve radical resection but also causes significant trauma and weakens the patient's constitution, so it is generally not performed directly.

Figuring this out, he asked the doctor, "What's the best-case scenario for treatment? The medium? The worst?" The doctor said, "It could be three to five months, one or two years, five or six years is possible, seven or eight years is a miracle. Medicine's ability is limited; go create a miracle."

That year he was 31, with elderly parents above and young children below, with little time to break down. His mind went blank for a few days, but he quickly calmed down, researching medication plans while arranging family affairs. He paid off his mother's pension insurance in a lump sum, configured insurance for his wife and children, and sorted out all property and vehicle documents.

"I've handled everything that could or couldn't happen, all the problems to face. After doing all this, I feel at ease." He arranged his "afterlife affairs."

「 II. Effective Treatment Brings the Joy of Surgical Opportunity 」

Subsequent molecular pathology results showed that KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF genes had no detected mutations, and microsatellite stability (MSS). The doctor set the plan as FOLFOX (oxaliplatin, leucovorin, fluorouracil) combined with cetuximab, a 14-day cycle. Considering the medical environment, he finally chose to be treated at Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University ("Zhongda Hospital").

[Genetic Testing Report]

After three rounds of chemotherapy, a follow-up enhanced CT was done. The doctor ran over to him: "Xiao Song, you're so lucky! The tumor shrank from over 10 centimeters to 5 centimeters, and many metastases are gone!" The doctor was both happy and cautious, telling him that continuing chemotherapy might improve it further, or it might become resistant and lose the surgical window. But surgery now couldn't guarantee a clean cut, only "try to cut as much as possible."

"Then do it." He hardly hesitated, "If we don't cut, it's sitting and waiting for death; if we cut, there's at least a ray of hope."

On February 22, 2024, he underwent sigmoid colon resection + partial small intestine resection, while clearing multiple metastatic nodules on the abdominal wall, bladder, ureter, and mesentery. During the surgery, the doctor carefully searched the abdominal cavity, cutting 15cm of sigmoid colon, 94cm of small intestine, and clearing dozens of tumor nodules. Postoperative pathology confirmed that the chemotherapy effect reached Ryan grade 2 (partial response), with significant tumor shrinkage, but it was still yIVc stage (T4a, N2b, M1c): extensive regional lymph node metastasis, multiple peritoneal implantations, a typical high-risk late-stage colon cancer.

[Postoperative Pathology]

「 III. Short Bowel Syndrome That Left His Legs Weak 」

Life after discharge was harder to endure than the surgery. The wound on his abdomen had fat liquefaction and rotted into a hole, needing dressing changes every other day. The local hospital's level was limited, so he operated at home in front of a mirror, stuffing gauze into the hole for drainage; the ureteral stent was in place for a year, with repeated urinary tract infections and hematuria, the urine color as dark as soy sauce... Because most of his small intestine was removed, he also developed short bowel syndrome. Having diarrhea over 30 times a day was normal, leaving him without the strength to stand, once "diarrheing until he didn't want to live," his weight dropping to 130 jin.

Postoperative chemotherapy had to continue, the plan unchanged, intensity not reduced. After one medication session in Nanjing, due to the inconvenience of traveling back and forth, he decided to return to Lianyungang for chemotherapy. "I didn't expect to be directly knocked down. The drug manufacturer changed, antiemetics were insufficient, the IV that should have taken 46 hours finished in 36 hours, vomiting until the sky and earth spun," Xiao Song said.

From then on, he began running between Lianyungang and Nanjing. On the day his 12th chemotherapy ended, he and his mother took the high-speed train back to Lianyungang. When arriving, his mother called him to get off. He could hear the sound but couldn't open his eyes, leaning over and fainting. It turned out long-term diarrhea caused electrolyte imbalance, and severe hypokalemia directly induced malignant arrhythmia.

When he woke up, he was already in the hospital by ambulance. Along the way, paramedics took turns doing CPR, even breaking his ribs, to snatch him back from the gates of hell. Since then, he completely gave up the idea of returning to his hometown. He rented a house opposite the hospital and peacefully stayed in Nanjing for treatment.

After a total of 14 chemotherapies before and after surgery, his body was extremely weak. In August 2024, a follow-up PET-CT showed the doctor evaluated the tumor activity as very small, allowing a downgrade to maintenance. Thus, the plan changed to raltitrexed monotherapy, much lower intensity and fewer side effects. That was the most "comfortable" period since his diagnosis: his strength recovered bit by bit, he could even drive back and forth to Nanjing himself, occasionally visiting the docks, life seemingly returning to normal.

「 IV. Recurrence One Year Post-Surgery 」

In May 2025, the hard-won peace was broken. He started having back pain, could only sleep on his side, his right leg numb, as if electricity was shooting down his leg. Follow-up CT showed new lesions in the retroperitoneum, with enlarged lymph nodes compressing nerves and blood vessels.

The disease progressed.

He embarked on the medical journey once again. Doctors at Zhongda Hospital didn't recommend surgery, considering the location too deep and the risk too high. Unwilling to give up, he consulted Professor Chen, Deputy Director of the Colorectal Department at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center ("SYSUCC"), via remote consultation. Professor Chen recommended using FOLFOXIRI (fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, irinotecan) combined with targeted therapy to shrink the lesions further, striving for a second debulking opportunity. This is currently one of the most intensive second-line regimens for colorectal cancer.

Returning to Nanjing, he strictly followed the chemotherapy plan, once every 14 days, rain or shine. "Not a single day missed, right on time. If it's time tomorrow, I'm definitely admitted today," Xiao Song said.

After 8 rounds of chemotherapy, the lesions shrank again. In November 2025, he had his second open debulking surgery at SYSUCC. Professor Chen performed the surgery, clearing para-aortic lymph nodes, removing thoracic masses, small intestine mesentery nodules, and bilateral inguinal lymph nodes. The main abdominal incision was 28 cm long, with 10 cm incisions on each inguinal side. The trauma was greater than the first time, followed by two sessions of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

Postoperative pathology brought good news. The multiple metastases suspected before surgery were actually mostly fibrous hyperplasia after treatment. Only the left para-aortic lymph nodes showed cancer metastasis, with obvious treatment response. The chemotherapy effect was better than expected.

After a month of postoperative recovery, he set off back to Jiangsu. The new maintenance plan is "cetuximab + anlotinib + capecitabine", medication every 21 days, life proceeding as planned. "It's very expensive, but the effect is not bad." He once thought he had achieved a phased victory.

「 V. Sudden Bowel Obstruction: Dumplings Were Actually the "Scent of Death" 」

In January this year, it was the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, plenty of dumplings. He ate two plates of steamed dumplings at home, and two plates of boiled dumplings at noon. Unusually, he didn't have diarrhea all day. He just thought his gastrointestinal state was good and didn't think much of it. The next morning, right after taking his targeted and chemotherapy drugs, his abdomen suddenly cramped severely, followed by violent vomiting. The vomit clearly contained the dumpling filling from the previous day.

His heart sank: it's over, obstruction. The local hospital's X-ray showed, "multiple small and large intestine obstructions, blocked everywhere," he recalled. That day was New Year's Eve, with Spring Festival couplets pasted and New Year's Eve dinner prepared, full of festive joy. Thinking that hospitalization would ruin the family's New Year, he insisted on spending it at home with a gastric tube inserted.

Early morning on the first day of the New Year, the pain could no longer be endured. His wife drove him straight to Zhongda Hospital, over 300 kilometers. He curled up in the passenger seat, the gastric tube dripping drainage fluid all the way. Outside the window were the sounds of firecrackers and people visiting relatives. His mind had only one thought: hold on until the hospital.

He stayed in the hospital for 33 days. The doctor was straightforward: no more surgery. Another laparotomy has a 60-70% chance of not making it off the table; even if he does, the wound will likely not heal, infection, intestinal fistula, any of which could be fatal. Only conservative treatment: gastrointestinal decompression, fasting, relying on IV nutrition, seeing if it can clear on its own.

These were the longest 33 days in his 33 years of life. "Harder to endure than living 33 years," he said. 24-hour IVs, bags of nutrition one after another. Needles pulled and inserted, inserted and pulled. When the port blocked, new veins were punctured. His stomach hurt every day, hurting until he was dazed, unable to tell day from night.

During those 33 days, three roommates died of bowel obstruction. On the first night, the old man in the next bed passed away. At 2 or 3 AM, the cart rolled past his bed, the wheels scraping the floor, exceptionally piercing in the quiet ward. He stared at the ceiling, not closing his eyes all night. A few days later, another patient died, "renal failure, heart failure, feet swollen and shiny, the doctor urged to call the family, but the person was gone before they arrived," Xiao Song said.

Death was no longer an abstract word; it was the hospital bed pushed away at midnight, the lingering smell of disinfectant in the air, and the decaying scent slowly emitting from his own body.

"The scent of death can be smelled." Slowly, Xiao Song's calves and buttocks deflated like deflated balls. His mother and mother-in-law couldn't even hold him up. He started to get scared, recorded a video will, called his grandparents to say goodbye, changed all bank card passwords and phone fingerprints to his wife's, and transferred all the money to her.

"Just give up, it's too tiring," this thought spun in his mind every day.

But as long as he had a little strength, he did one thing: walking. During the day, pushing the IV stand, his mother and mother-in-law supporting him on both sides, from the ward to the corridor, from the corridor to the playground downstairs, step by step. At night, his mother and mother-in-law took turns applying hot towels to his stomach, rubbing it clockwise, all night long, keeping his stomach warm.

At dawn on the 30th day, he vaguely felt warmth below him. Normally, being clean, he would be embarrassed, but that day his first reaction was to shout for the nurse. The nurse ran over, lifted the quilt, and her voice trembled: "It's stool! It's clear! It's clear!"

In that instant, he suddenly had strength. After being helped to the bathroom to clean up, he walked towards the ward door holding the wall. "I didn't expect to be paralyzed in bed just now, and the next minute I could actually walk," he was stunned himself.

The next morning, the sun slanted into the ward, blindingly bright. After 33 days of agony in pain, he hadn't seriously watched a dawn once. That day's sunlight fell whitely by the bed, illuminating even the texture of the wall paint clearly. Facing that light, he realized: he really survived.

When the director made rounds, he smiled and said that for such severe multiple adhesive bowel obstruction, most can't hold on, but he was the one who made it through. On the day of discharge, the scale showed: 103 jin. Over 1.8 meters tall, thin to just a skeleton.

「 VI. "My Family": The Unhappy Dad 」

With the obstruction cleared, the doctor advised resting for a while before restarting anti-tumor treatment. After discharge, he had a nasogastric tube in his nose, with enteral nutrition continuously pumped, gaining one jin a day, slowly recovering from 103 jin.

It was also during this time that his daughter's teacher suddenly called.

It turned out his daughter wrote an essay titled "My Family". The little girl wrote: "I don't remember what grandpa looks like. The hardworking grandma makes delicious food every day, the hardworking mom goes out to work before dawn, the naughty younger brother makes mom angry every day, and the sick dad, he is unhappy every day."

Holding the phone, he was silent for a long time. In Xiao Song's eyes, "my family" was the same yet different from his daughter's essay.

The daughter doesn't remember grandpa because his father was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in 2022. The father, busy with treatment, didn't see his granddaughter much. After Xiao Song was diagnosed with colon cancer, his father gave up treatment. "He said if he continued treatment, it would take energy from my mother, and she wouldn't be able to take care of me." Xiao Song recalled his father also telling him, "Just focus on recovering, don't worry about me."

Later, his father's health deteriorated. On the sixth day of the first lunar month in 2025, his father passed away.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month in 2026, it was also the day Xiao Song's bowel obstruction was most severe, falling into a coma. A year apart, father and son, on the same day, brushed past death one after the other. But he finally pulled through, carrying his father's share, continuing to move forward.

The "hardworking grandma" didn't just make "delicious food." His mother accompanied him through the entire treatment, never taking off her clothes at night, not even her socks, leaving the door open all night in case he was uncomfortable at night. The moment he called, she would sit up and run over to ask what was wrong.

The "hardworking mom" changed the most. His wife didn't have much education, but slowly learned all the obscure names of chemotherapy and targeted drugs, knew how to claim medical insurance and handle procedures; drove back and forth between Lianyungang and Nanjing dozens of times, now knowing the way without navigation. "Before, she relied on me; now I rely on her," Xiao Song said. His wife transformed from a dependent little woman into the pillar of the family.

The "naughty younger brother" just started first grade. The first thing he did after school was run to him, bury his head in his arms, look up and say, "Dad, pat my head." As he patted his son's head, the son stayed quietly, as if the physical pain dissipated.

His daughter was even more considerate, massaging his back and feet every day, kissing his face again and again. The rash caused by cetuximab grew on his face, itchy and painful. When his daughter's little face rubbed against it, it hurt terribly, but he didn't dodge.

"After getting sick, slowly only the children were left by my side," he said. "Wherever I want to go, they accompany me; whatever I want to eat, they accompany me to buy. They never ruin the mood, always providing emotional value. The two little kids have long become the light in my tired life. It turns out it wasn't them who needed companionship, it was me."

「 VII. Late-Stage Patients Can Also Summit Mount Tai 」

Coming back from his memories, he realized he hadn't smiled in a long time. After getting sick, enduring pain and frowning all day, he indeed became the "unhappy dad" in his daughter's eyes.

The end of the essay read: "I hope dad's illness gets better soon, so he can take me out to play. He has never taken me out to play." Later, when he had a little strength, he took his mother and children to climb Huaguo Mountain. It was his first long walk after discharge. When reaching the top, the wind blew, looking at the children's happy smiles, he felt relaxed all over.

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After returning from Huaguo Mountain, the "unhappy dad" decided to make himself happy. He planted a seed in his heart: to climb Mount Tai.

He started exercising, starting from the simplest walking, slowly increasing from a few thousand steps to over 10,000, and later went to the gym for over 40 days.

At 9 AM on May 28, he set off from the Red Gate, passed the Middle Heaven Gate, climbed the Eighteen Turns, and reached the Jade Emperor Peak at 3 PM. Six hours, almost without stopping, even though his toes were suppurating from chemotherapy side effects and his toenails were about to fall off. His attending doctor called midway, anxiously telling him to go down, but he smiled and said he wasn't panting at all.

When reaching the summit, he unfurled a white banner with the words: Live brilliantly every day.

The wind on Mount Tai was strong, making his eyes sting. Looking at the distant mountains, he remembered the night when his bowel obstruction was most severe, lying in bed, feeling he couldn't make it. He never thought that one day he would be standing here.

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He posted the photos in the Panda group. "Many people ask me what the meaning of climbing Mount Tai is. I don't have an exact answer," he said. "Crossing nearly 10,000 steps, meeting all kinds of people along the way, some gave up, some continued. Looking back from the Eighteen Turns, overlooking the lights of thousands of homes, it's like my nearly three-year fight against the disease. Unaware, I persisted to this step. It's tiring, not easy. But I know, what I climbed over was not the mountain, but my own hesitant self. In the future, no matter how difficult things get, I will be like climbing Mount Tai, no matter how tired or hard, using dreams and courage to persist to the end and reach the destination."

After climbing Mount Tai, his follow-up check showed indicators so good they surprised the doctor. Blood routine, biochemistry, tumor markers all normal. He felt he had truly created a "miracle."

During this time, he also turned his experience into the ability to help others. Because of long-term use of the enteral nutrition pump, he mastered the equipment principles and troubleshooting. He bought over 40 second-hand machines to rent to patients. "Others charge 10 yuan a day, I only charge 60 yuan a month, free repair and replacement if broken," Xiao Song said. When someone in the Panda group asked about enteral nutrition care, he always answered patiently. When cancer patients asked him to fix their pumps, he charged nothing. He said, "I've stepped in the pits myself, I don't want others to step in them again."

Now he continues the maintenance treatment of cetuximab + anlotinib + capecitabine, relying mostly on enteral nutrition daily. He doesn't eat much, but when he sees his favorite beef potstickers, he still buys a tael and eats two or three to satisfy his craving.

He often thinks of the last words his father said to him, "You've always been better than others at everything since you were a kid. Although treating cancer is hard, you're definitely better than others. They last two or three years, you can definitely hold on for five or eight years. As long as you want to, go do it."

He is stronger than his father thought. He told his wife, "The country has five-year plans, so do I. My first five-year plan is to live until my son is 10."

"What about after five years?"

"Another five years, my son will be 15."

"And another five years?"

"The kids will all be grown up, then I've made a profit."

No matter how high the mountain, step by step, you can always reach the summit; no matter how hard the road, day by day, you can always finish it.

Being alive itself is the most brilliant thing.

To protect patient privacy, the names in the text are pseudonyms.

Images featuring the patient's portrait have been authorized by the patient and are prohibited from use without permission.