One year ago, I had a weekend lunch with an old patient of mine, an old friend, at the training base of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Zhangwan, Tong County. He is an outstanding diplomat who has been an ambassador of several countries and has been living with “cancer” for more than 10 years after more than 10 courses of chemotherapy, including first-line and second-line chemotherapy, for small cell lung cancer. The 70-year-old diplomat, who looks very healthy, talked to me about his feelings and experiences in cancer treatment more than a decade ago: the confidence to overcome the disease, the love and dedication of his relatives, the careful treatment by doctors, the new anti-cancer drugs that are constantly on the market, and the care and help from the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The concept of “talking about cancer frankly, treating cancer scientifically and surviving with cancer” that we have been advocating is fully reflected in the old diplomat’s body. Hu Mu, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University
Recently, I attended the family party of an old friend who has been living with cancer for fifteen years after lung cancer surgery, and Professor Zhao Zhiwen, the famous thoracic surgeon who operated on him, also attended his “15th” birthday party. The “director of the district people’s congress”, who has been a non-smoker all his life but suffered from lung cancer, has been facing everything optimistically for fifteen years and has been working until his retirement after the surgery. He loves photography and often participates in various photographic activities, and his speech and demeanor reveal similarities with diplomats. “Talking about cancer openly, treating cancer scientifically and surviving with cancer” should be expanded continuously, so that more lung cancer patients can survive with cancer with a normal heart!