Chinese obstetrician sows love in Africa
- By Mi Xingang
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 26, 2019
Guo also saved many patients in critical danger who suffered from massive hemorrhage of the placenta previa, postnatal hemorrhage and other conditions. She made innovations in the execution of complex surgeries, remarkably lowering the rate of infant and maternal mortality at the hospital. At the same time, she taught local medical staff medical philosophy and surgical techniques to pass on her experience to more professionals.
The sustained high-intensity pace of work was exhausting and in March, 2015, Guo felt heart pains for several days. However, just after two days of transfusion treatment, she returned to her work at the hospital. In July that year, she felt severe pains again in her left chest, but because patients were streaming into the hospital every day, she continued working for another five months in spite of her illness.
In January, 2016, when she returned home for her vacation, Guo received a physical examination in Nanchang city, Jiangxi province and was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her doctor said that had she been diagnosed earlier and received treatment, her condition would have been much better. However, only seven days after undergoing an operation to treat her breast cancer, she asked her doctor: "Can I receive chemotherapy half a year later or can I do it in Africa? I promised many pregnant women there that I would deliver their babies for them, and have already bought the return leg of my air ticket before I left Tunisia." Her doctor refused her request and despite her longing to return, Guo did not fly back to Africa.
After receiving further treatment, Guo returned to work at the Maternity and Child Care Center in Xinyu. Her self-sacrificial spirit and work to treat African patients while neglecting her own heath started to spread in her hometown and eventually across China through the media. Right now, apart from her daily work, she is also engaged in public welfare activities and attends international conferences as a representative of Chinese doctors, such as the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, World Philanthropy Forum, and several others. She has delivered numerous speeches, calling for attention to children and women living in underdeveloped areas.
Influenced by her father, a veteran of traditional Chinese medicine, Guo chose to become a doctor and has had no regrets on her career decision. She can't have her own children because of her cancer, but Guo has taken this in her stride. "It's probably a misfortune for me, but I delivered 1,436 babies in Africa and brought good luck to all of them," she smiled wistfully.
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