For everyone, good health is the top priority, because without a healthy body, even if you have countless wealth, it will be difficult to enjoy your life.
However, in today’s fast-paced and high-stress world, it is difficult for many young people to pay attention to their health all the time. When most people get sick, I believe they will choose to register with the hospital immediately and let the doctor solve the problem. However, Doctors are not omnipotent. They can save many lives, but they cannot save their own life that is coming to an end.
In the United States, there is a young genius doctor who saved countless patients, but ultimately failed to save himself. He is Paul Kalani.
The top doctor in the United States suffered from cancer in his prime
In 1977, Paul Canilla was born in a traditional middle-class family in Arizona, USA . He was educated and trained by his intellectual parents since he was a child. He was very talented in learning. In college Successfully admitted to Stanford University, one of the world's top universities, and studied for a double major in human biology and English literature.
Paul is an out-and-out academic and genius. After graduating from Stanford as an undergraduate, he received an offer from the University of Cambridge. After completing his studies, Paul received a master's degree in the history and philosophy of science. Then, Paul I chose and Yale University without stopping, and finally graduated from the top medical school.
Paul has had an infinite yearning for the sacred profession of doctor since he was a child. During his tenure as a doctor, he won the highest award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons for his outstanding achievements.
In 2013, 35-year-old Paul was one of the few talented doctors in the American Medical Association. Before everything happened, Paul was only one step away from the position of professor of surgery at Stanford Medical School. If bad luck had not struck, then Paul would have had his own Research room, and his financial plan will also be put on the agenda.
According to his assumptions, in another year, his salary will more than increase six times. For Paul, his glory in the first half of his life is a level that many ordinary people cannot reach. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is a winner in life. point.
However, the journey of life will never be smooth sailing. Such a young doctor who is always fighting death at any time was caught off guard by cancer.
Do you know what is the cancer with the highest incidence rate and highest mortality rate in the world? The answer was lung cancer, and lung cancer became the main culprit that took Paul's life.
As a young and top neurosurgery expert in the medical field, Paul faced the biggest problem in his life when he was 35 years old.
He began to vomit and cough frequently, and sometimes he would cough up blood. Chest and back pain became almost a daily occurrence. The arrival of the disease caused Paul's body to lose weight rapidly, but at that time he did not respond to the warning signals sent by his body. In his heart, Paul simply thought that he was too tired from work.
In order to relieve the pain, he prescribed ibuprofen , but the medicine did not stop the pain. Paul, who was suffering from the pain, finally chose to go to the hospital for examination.
After being examined by various precision instruments, Paul looked at his CT scan and fell into deep thought. As a doctor who has been working for many years, he is already familiar with many diseases, including cancer, and lung cancer, which is one of the highest risk cancers in the world, Paul is all too familiar with.
He saw that his lungs had been densely filled with cancer cells. Almost the entire lung lobes had been eroded. The most terrible thing was that the cancer cells had metastasized to the bones and compressed the spinal nerves...
Paul Looking at the diagnosis results blankly, I felt like a lightning strike.
He is a doctor. In the hospital, he has witnessed countless lives lost due to cancer. He never thought that one day, he would witness his own path to death.
Paul said: "In the 6 years of practicing medicine, I have seen too many similar CT films. Every time I tried to find the most likely cure, but the good results were often very weak; but I didn't I thought that one day I would look at my own cancer film."
He remembered the severe pain in his chest and back that he had experienced some time ago, and his body that had rapidly lost weight in a short period of time - the obvious answer was ready to come out, but Paul just thought that he was too tired from work.
Before it was basically confirmed that he had terminal lung cancer , Paul put down his work and personally flew to New York to spend a vacation with some old friends in New York.
Paul is a naturally optimistic person. Although he has to deal with countless lives and deaths every day, he has snatched the life and death from him. Life is countless, but when he was with his old friend, Paul revealed his worries about cancer.
Cancer, these two words are so heavy, it represents not only long-lasting and severe pain, but also endless pain. After all the radiotherapy and chemotherapy, no one knew how long he would survive.
Paul looked back on his 35-year career. He remembered that his family moved to Kingman when he was 10 years old. He remembered that his love of literature was inspired by it. He was influenced by his mother; it was his lifelong dream to study neurosurgery at Stanford. After that, he became a neurosurgeon as he wished, and he met Lucy and fell in love with Lucy.
When he thought of this, Paul's heart was filled with joy. Warmth, but the pain cruelly reminded him that that time can no longer be returned, and he is likely to be a person without a future.
Paul wrote hopelessly: "The future I hope for will soon come true. All the dreams of the future, the future of finally reaching the pinnacle of life after decades of hard work, vanished at this moment. "
was admitted to the hospital for treatment for 6 months. In order to leave offspring for his wife
Paul's lungs were in bad condition. He had entered the advanced stage of cancer. , and ordinary conservative treatments had no effect on him. In desperation, Paul explained to his family After everything was settled, he was admitted to the hospital, waiting for his fate to be judged.
The cancer had reached an advanced stage, and the usual surgical resection treatment was no longer effective. Paul also understood this, and after a series of discussions with the attending doctor, he gave Paul the treatment. Two options.
One is chemotherapy and the other is targeted therapy. Judging from Paul's current condition, targeted therapy is undoubtedly the best choice. However, it is not up to Paul to choose whether he can choose targeted therapy. Fortunately, in the end The test results were good,
Paul successfully received the targeted treatment
During this period, Paul, who had already begun to fight the disease, looked at the young and beautiful face of his wife Lucy and couldn't help but feel sad. He was only 35 years old. He was so young and had been married to his wife for many years, but because of his busy work schedule, he could not conceive the fruit of their love.
After six painful and long weeks of treatment, the cancer cells no longer spread. Paul's complexion and spirit gradually improved, and the cancer cells gradually improved. The area of the tumor was greatly reduced, and the area of the tumor was also reduced. At this time, Paul was still thinking about leaving a son and a half to his wife.
After discussing with his wife Lucy, Paul froze his sperm.
Everything seemed to be heading towards that. The development was in a good direction. Half a year later, Paul always kept in mind his duties as a doctor and the responsibilities of this white coat. When he could walk freely, Paul returned to his post and devoted himself to front-line work
. Just like before the illness, the operation was performed, and it was a difficult operation that lasted for 8 hours. This was really shocking. Not only that, Paul took time to accompany his wife Lucy to undergo test tube . Fortunately, Yes, the embryo landed successfully and their test tube was successful.
A new little life was conceived in Lucy's body. All this made Paul feel great. He wrote in an email to a friend: "Suffering from the disease." Cancer is indeed a very tragic thing, but cancer is not an incurable disease... I want to tell everyone that this process turns out to be like this. Imagine that sooner or later I will die, and death turns out to be That's right. ”
At this time, Paul still doesn’t know what the future will bring, but what he has now is enough for him to be grateful.
He struggled with cancer for two years and finally passed away.
However, good luck did not always favor Paul. In 2014, cancer had coexisted in Paul's body for more than a year. His body was once again overwhelmed and he had to survive. Seven months after returning to work, he put down his work again and was hospitalized for treatment.
However, this time the examination was not as lucky as the last time. The cancer cells that had been well controlled by targeted therapy once again developed lesions and metastases, and had spread to the middle lobe of Paul's right brain. Paul had been practicing medicine for many years, how could this happen? The consequences of cancer cell metastasis are unknown.
The natural survival period of patients with lung metastasis is only 1-2 months, and the subsequent treatment road will be extremely difficult and difficult. The most important thing is that Paul knows that the possibility of him surviving is extremely slim.
But Paul didn’t want to die like this. He longed to live and to have a child. All his desires eventually turned into Paul’s motivation and courage to fight against fate. He was not afraid of chemotherapy because he was so eager to survive. .
Paul's attending doctor reworked the chemotherapy plan and required chemotherapy every 3 weeks. Paul received the first chemotherapy of his second hospitalization.
We all know that chemotherapy actually "kills" cancer cells in the body, but at the same time, it also kills many growing cells. On the second day of chemotherapy, Paul suffered many side effects. He looked pale. As thin as a gaunt old man.
Despite this, Lucy never left Paul. Paul once said to Lucy: "I love you deeply and I need you."
Lucy's eyes filled with tears, and she held Paul's hand tightly and gave him a trace of love. Warmth and strength, and answered him firmly: "I will never leave you."
Because Paul was tortured by cancer, he was in disfigurement, and it was difficult for him to eat on his own. He could only rely on drugs to maintain the nutrients his body needed. On the day of Paul's Yale School of Medicine graduation, Paul was admitted to the ICU with various complications.
After an operation that raced against time, Paul finally survived this death, and Lucy, who had been by his side, also gave birth to a lovely daughter for him.
Paul looked at the swaddled baby. She was still so small and tender. He named his daughter "Cady", but the body corroded by cancer cells no longer had any strength for Paul to reach out and hug her. Hold your daughter.
Drugs and treatments can no longer have any effect on Paul's body. Paul knows that his end has come, but there are still so many regrets in his life. He has studied sages' books for more than ten years in order to practice medicine. Go all the way to a top university to study your dream major and become a qualified doctor who can save the world.
Facing the ruthless and cruel disease, Paul has calmly accepted his outcome. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Paul once imagined that if he had 10 years to live, he would still choose to shine in the position of neurosurgery; But if he only has 1 year left to live, then he wants to write a book.
came up with this idea because Paul majored in English literature, which gave him the idea of leaving something behind in words.
In his last days, Paul’s family and friends all accompanied him. His daughter Cady sat on Paul’s lap, and Paul sang nursery rhymes to her gently. It was precisely because Paul never struggled alone, such a solid and profound love. It gave Paul the strength to write.
is a thin notebook. The first half is about Paul's childhood, school career and working life. He recorded what he saw, heard and thought. The second half is about Paul's illness, his race against death and hope. Losing hope and giving birth to a daughter...
From 2013 to 2015, whether Paul was undergoing chemotherapy or working on the front line in the hospital, he wrote down some thoughts in his spare time. After insisting on practicing medicine despite being sick, Paul's fragile body finally couldn't hold on any longer. He said to himself in despair: "I can't move forward."
But the next second, Paul recalled his mission as a doctor, so there was another half of this sentence - "But I will still move forward."
This book is published under the title "When Breathing Becomes" "For Air" , a book records the short life of a 37-year-old genius doctor who was also a cancer patient. Although Paul only lived in this world for 37 years, the words presented in his book are... Like a critical moment, I give you comfort and strength.
When he was dying, Paul said in a firm but soft voice: "I am ready."
He said to his beloved wife Lucy: "I am ready to leave this world, ready to inject maca, Be prepared to remove all assisted breathing devices."
But who can really be prepared before death actually comes? Looking at his parents who were in tears, his friends who were heartbroken, and Lucy who had accompanied him through the two years of fighting cancer, Paul felt so much reluctance in his heart.
Especially his daughter, his Kadi, little Kadi didn't know anything. She looked at him with her big, ignorant eyes like a baby, and Paul's consciousness began to diverge.
He suddenly thought, how will Cady talk to others about her father, whom she has almost no memory of, when she grows up? What major will she choose in the future? what does she like? When she cried and felt wronged, would she also want to have her father by her side?
But Paul is destined to not get answers to these questions.
When he met the God of Death, he thought at a certain moment that he would defeat the God of Death and become the winner; but the happy ending in the fairy tale did not appear in the end. He was just a mortal who could not save the common people or himself.
In 2013, when Paul was admitted to the hospital for treatment, he was once full of hope because of his physical improvement. However, from the time he was diagnosed with terminal cancer to his final death, Paul only walked this path for a short 22 months.
After suffering from cancer for 22 months, Paul went from full of hope to helpless acceptance. However, no matter what his physical condition was, he never forgot his original intention. As long as his body allowed, he would return to his job to save more people. patient.
In 2015, Paul, who had been fighting cancer for two years, still could not resist the scythe of death. On March 31, Paul’s memorial service was held at his alma mater, Stanford University. According to his last wish, he will be buried in a canopy. See the Santa Cruz Mountains on the French Riviera, where Paul will rest, enjoying the company of the wind and waves.
In 2022, 7 years have passed since Paul passed away. Although he has left his beloved family forever, Paul’s wife has not forgotten to take care of each other’s parents and care for her daughter’s growth. Now her daughter Cady is also 7 years old. Sometimes she would ask where her father had gone, and Lucy would answer him patiently: "Father is by your side, and he has not left you."
There are still traces of Paul in many corners of the home, and his photos, His books, his manuscripts, and "When Breath Becomes Air" which he completed at the last moment of his life.
For the young Cady, the first time she faced life and death came from her father Paul, and Paul also taught her a good lesson. Even if his body has died, his spirit and soul remain. But you will have eternal life.
Lucy will occasionally post some daily life with her daughter on social media, which is very trivial, but also very warm.
She has never regretted giving birth to their child before her husband died. She feels that Cady is a gift from God, and her daughter is like an angel, gentle and caring. When talking about the deceased Paul, the look in Lucy's eyes Love never fades away.
When Cady reached school age, she was always dressed up sweetly by her mother Lucy. She was the little princess in school and was loved by many people. The children thought Cady was kind and innocent, and very smart, and they all liked to be with her. Play together.
Cady would often proudly tell the children: "My dad is Superman, he will always protect me where I can't see him."
Source:
Paul Canilla "When Breath Becomes Air"
