In the Lunar calendar, mid-Autumn festival falls on 15th August and is widely celebrated as one of the two biggest festivals in China. While we are able to view the moon in its fullness, this festival marks the ties among families, relatives and friends. Even the atmosphere can be compared to that of the Chinese New Year eve. In a gathering organized by the management and staff of Fuda Cancer Hospital in order to warm the hearts of cancer patients, a hymn flied out; it sounded sweet and affectionate. Having admitted into Fuda Cancer Hospital located in the centre of Guangzhou for one month, Jackson Chai came out of his room in which he was confined for such a long time. On this occasion, he had the opportunity to entertain the fellow patients with his almost feeble voice. The song, Praise of the Lord – His Name is quite popular among Christian friends..

“How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear!
It soothes，heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.”

Though the audience had not fully understood its meaning, there was a feeling among all that it is good to have God in the heart. The night ended with many young entertainers to cheer the patients, some of them far away from home.

After undergoing a series of new technological treatments in the hospital, Jackson realized the importance of combination treatment and within him, fire of hope ignited and emerged. He has not regretted the decision of coming to Guangzhou without hesitation after he was consulted by the doctors in Auckland that the tumour within him was still active. According to them, a resection would be the only option left notwithstanding the slim chance he had then. A second generation overseas Chinese, he was born and raised up in Brunei, a tiny country in the island of Borneo rich in its oil resources. In 1989, he became the permanent resident of New Zealand. Since then, his family moved to Auckland and soon he went back to Brunei to finish off his business before he joined his family members in 1991. He has always been a responsible father who cares very much for his children’s education and disciplines them with love. His eldest son, Francis holding a master degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering presently works for New Zealand Telecom while his third son, Peter, an engineer as well joined Telecom recently. The second son, Steven is working in DHL stationed at Auckland while Sandie, the only daughter is doing her high school education.

Something happened in September 2004. A house builder by trade, Jackson maintained his physical fitness and had never complaint of any serious illness before. On the other hand, he is also a fervent Christian, being actively involved in caring and nourishing his many Christian members in the district. Unbelievably, he would have to experience an ordeal. Initially, he spotted a black pigment between the fingers in his left fist spreading out even though it has been there since his early days. He observed no signs of spreading as years went by. Because of the gradual spreading, he went to his family doctor to have a medical check up on his hand but it was advised by Dr. Chan, one senior doctor in Auckland that for a medical check up to be effective, it would be better to have a routine x ray on the chest rather the hand. By the recommendation of Dr Chan, he went to Auckland City Hospital and had x ray on his chest. On 4th November, 2004, the doctor confirmed that there was an anterior superior mediastinal mass which bulged to the right of the mediastinum, the size of which was as big as a ping pong ball. There was confirmation of a slightly lobulated mass of soft tissue enhancement and a few small vessels within the mass in the right anterior mediastinum. This mass displaced the right brachiocephalic vein laterally as the mass lied medial to this and also encompassed this vein. The mass measured approximately 4.5 x 4 cm size transverse section. Causes for such growth according to the consultant radiologist would include thymic tumour, or germ cell tumour or other tumour. Upon hearing this, he felt depressed and at a loss. But he continued working at the building site and planned to complete the two more houses prior to retirement.

On 16th November, 2004, an appointment was made to have him to go for a CT biopsy in the right lung. Biopsy confirmed carcinoma. Interestingly, alpha fetoprotein (AFP) was tested positive but it was difficult to delineate secondary metastases, primary germ cell or thymoma. His alpha fetoprotein was recorded at 355.0 and 730.9 on 8th November and 6th December 2004 respectively. In order to determine if the mass is malignancy, the doctors had to make further investigations and reviews before discussing which treatment would be the suitable option.

At such a stage, it would be false if there was no anxiety. However, the Bible says, “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every man’s understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” Jackson was much comforted by these verses. Before the doctors could come up any decision though a fairly long process, Jackson sought consultation with his relatives and church members. They prayed together and found peaceful. Without further delay, Jackson flew to Kuala Lumpur to see if any option was available there for him to get cured. Surprisingly, the doctor there simply considered him the same as his other patients as he started traditional method of treatments on Jackson. Any consultation with other medical specialists seemed highly unnecessary. For a period of six months there, he underwent 6 chemotherapies and 20 radiotherapies.

Six months passed and Jackson returned to Auckland. He went to Auckland City Hospital for follow up. It was reported that repeat CT scan showed response comparable to that of November 2004 and mass currently had been reduced to around 2 x 2cm. AFP recorded 37.8 on 27 June 2005 and elevated to 77.8 on 25th July, 2005.. Though restaging CT scan shows significant reduction in volume of the mass compared to November, AFP elevated. This led them to believe that this was likely to represent mediastinal germ cell cancer. Unfortunately, there were no records of AFP while undergoing treatment in Kuala Lumpur. While waiting for further AFP result, the doctors reviewed the reports and believed that Jackson might still have the residual disease left behind. Therefore it was clear that he had not been cured and without further treatment the disease was unlikely to be cured.

Whether or not they would now be considering surgical resection there was a surgical conference for presenting his case. By the end of July, 2005, they came to a conclusion and Jackson was invited to meet the doctor for the treatment plan. The medical oncologist told about the decision to go ahead with a resection without any further delay. While the meeting lasted for about an hour, Jackson was further advised that the chance for surgical resection was then very slim but there was hope. If the tumour remains without resection, Jackson might face the risk of his life being threatened. In fact, judging from his condition then, he found that the treatments in Kuala Lumpur had not shown results and the disease had recurred. The blood vein to which the mass was located must have been oppressed, thus causing inflammation and it was swelling. While he was considering all the outcomes, Jackson watched a VCD showing the new treatment methods of Fuda Cancer Hospital. A friend in Kuala Lumpur gave him this VCD while Jackson was seeking treatment there. While watching this, the option of having treatment by these new technological methods became clear and also increased the hope of being cured without undergoing the traditional method of a resection. Later, Jackson finally decided to send his medical report by fax to Dr Niu and seek for his opinion. Dr Niu on the other side of the globe answered the call and told him that he will definitely get healed by his new method of cryoablation in his hospital.

Accompanied by a close church member, Jackson arrived at the GZ airport on 18th August, 2005. The following day, careful and thorough review was carried out by the doctors concerned and finally, they decided to have PET/CT scan and Dr. Xu, the President of the hospital personally led a team of doctors to a thorough discussion. He expressed concern that due to the mass being encompassed by many small veins, a resection would be very risky to the patient. Thus they had no choice but to decide on cryoablation coupled with planting of iodine seeds in the mass. Any treatment, not matter how effective it is, does have its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, cryoablation was successfully carried out on the mediastinal with iodine seeds being planted. Following this, the experience of undergoing regional intervention and chemotherapies was really awful to Jackson. Chemotherapy works by killing fast-growing cancer cells. Unfortunately, chemotherapy can not tell the difference between cancer cells and fast-growing healthy cells, including red and white blood cells. As a result, one of the most serious potential side effects of chemotherapy is a low white blood cell count. Because it suppressed the production of white blood cells, Jackson was put to risk when his level was recorded at 8. Because of the good nursing care in this hospital, he received tremendous encouragement and the condition

Every one of us has only a life to live, regrettably only one life. It is fair to all of us because it is only a process and a way without turning back. Life is not only firm but also weak. The moment you hear the news of getting a terminal disease, your brain will be a blank. The disease is just there swallowing up your life. You need to stand up and defend the disease with all your might. The chemotherapy treatment had made Jackson pale and weak. At this moment, all things in front of you such as reputation, wealth, conflict of interests and political struggles seems as light as any feather.

Jackson trusts in God and firmly believes that he can be healed. He is a staunch fighter. Now Jackson is into his third month of treatment plan in Guangzhou and his condition has greatly improved than before. He feels much better than before and recently, he underwent another round of treatment with cryoablation together with planting of iodine seeds first followed by a regional intervention, under the monitoring of DSA Especially during the regional intervention, the doctor found that the mass has in fact shrank as the blood veins going into the mass have lessened. Overall, he is grateful that the hospital has achieved in securing his life.