China News Service, February 29 (Reporter Zhang Ni and Wu Jiaju) After experiencing phlegm blockage, suffocation, and almost death caused by the flu, Cai Lei was pulled back from the gate of death.
He continued to devote himself to the intense work, and when time permitted, he appeared in the live broadcast room of the Icebreaker Station to accompany his wife Duan Rui during the live broadcast.
Today, Cai Lei still works more than ten hours a day. The difference is that more and more people are joining his "ice-breaking" team.
Cai Lei was interviewed by Sino-Singapore Health
Instead of talking about death, do something more meaningful
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2024, the number of pedestrians and traffic on the streets of Beijing gradually dwindled, and migrant workers who had worked hard for a year began their journey home.
But in an office in Chaoyang District, Cai Lei and his team members are still busy interviewing, reading massive literature, and replying to patient information.
If they didn't read the reports, no one would have imagined that he had just escaped from death just over a month ago.
At the end of 2023, Cai Lei, who had been suffering from ALS for more than four years, suffered from severe phlegm blockage. The continuous suffocation made him think that his life would end before the New Year.
Fortunately, the nurse who was by his side rescued him in time and brought him back from the brink of death.
"It's over. I won't be punished in the future. I'll stop here and take the first step." When talking about that experience to the outside world, Cai Lei said that suffocation was like "water torture" and made him feel desperate and painful. He admitted, This feeling did have a negative mental and psychological impact on him, because this near-death threat could come again at any time.
On January 8, he wrote on his Weibo: "I can't speak or shout while wearing a ventilator mask. Even if I suffocate, I don't have the strength to take off the mask. I feel the fear of being isolated from the world at any time. I will persist in being brave. , continue to work hard.”
On February 4, he said on Weibo: "Later I realized that I couldn't die because of my family and because of so many patients."
When he saw the China-Singapore Health reporter again in the office, Cai Lei still showed a relaxed smile. He sat in front of the camera with bright eyes.
This time, he did not want to discuss too many topics about life and death, because in his opinion, instead of discussing pessimistic and sad content, it is better to focus on more positive things.
He just gave the reporter this answer: "When you are not facing life and death, you may follow the conventional career development and think about how to develop your career well, make more money, and gain more wealth for yourself, but after you become ill, you will not Once you do this, you will think about what are the most meaningful things in life and devote this short time to these things.”
Cai Lei recovered. Although his body was still entangled with pain, the optimistic "fighter" was back.
Cai Lei at work
“Received nearly a thousand volunteer resume submissions”
Nowadays, as long as his physical condition allows, Cai Lei maintains a rhythm of working more than ten hours a day. He goes to the office at 9 a.m. and leaves around 11 p.m., with short meals in between often accompanying work.
"He cherishes time more than before, because every job he does now is related to the lives of others." Duan Rui told China-Singapore Health Reporter.
As Duan Rui said, the number of patient groups reached by the "Gradual Recovery Mutual Aid Home" now exceeds 13,000, with about 1,000 new patients almost every month.
At the same time, the speed of disease development is also terrifying. Almost 60 patients in China alone die every day. This race against death is a race against time.
Although Cai Lei once jokingly called himself a "self-employed scientific researcher" to reporters, in the past six months, the appeal of the words "Cai Lei's team" has been rapidly expanding. Compared with the initial stage, the level of today's scientific research team has improved. Great progress.
"The team in the office has been expanded, and nearly 70 scientific research volunteers from various related research directions around the world have joined. There are many people who have signed up. After the open recruitment of volunteers began in November last year, nearly a thousand applications have been received. Volunteer resume submission.”
Cai Lei's assistant Li Ying (pseudonym) told reporters that even she was deeply touched by Cai Lei's story and voluntarily quit her original high-paying job to join the team.
"My own family was diagnosed with a rare disease last year and fell into deep despair. When I saw what Mr. Cai was doing, I decided to join in."
Now, as an important member of the team, Li Ying's schedule and work intensity are basically the same as Cai Lei's.
She said that the members of this team must have a firm belief in the cause if they can persevere.
Not just individuals, Cai Lei's team now receives a huge amount of information on a daily basis, covering all walks of life. Some air purifier manufacturers even proactively contacted the team and expressed their hope to provide equipment.
"There are many people who want to help Mr. Cai, including many technology companies. Many people have left messages saying, 'I want to help Mr. Cai, but I don't know what I can do. Can you tell me how to do it?'"
Judging from the progress of the work, so far, Cai Lei's team is developing and cooperating with more than 100 drugs and treatment pipelines.
He initiated the donation of brain tissue and spinal cord tissue for ALS patients, and more than a thousand patients responded, with more than ten cases of successful donation.
Cai Lei’s wife Duan Rui was interviewed by China-Singapore Health reporter Zhang Ni.
If there are still people fighting ALS, the live broadcast will continue
At the end of January this year, Cai Lei announced that he and his wife would donate another 100 million yuan to combat ALS, which attracted attention.
In fact, Cai Lei's career has always been inseparable from Duan Rui's strong support.
Like Cai Lei, Duan Rui's daily life is now filled with work, and working more than ten hours a day is normal.
The two of them often only have time to talk and review the day's work after the live broadcast ends in the evening.
Nowadays, the live broadcast room of Cai Lei's Ice Breaking Station, which Duan Rui is responsible for, is growing rapidly, and fatigue and pressure are inevitable.
Duan Rui admitted that live broadcasting five days a week is a huge challenge both mentally and physically.
"Each stage has different difficulties. It was difficult to find a host at the beginning. Later, it was also difficult to find a way to broadcast on your own. When you don't accomplish something, you don't know whether you are right or not, so the people around you, including Your colleagues and employees will also be shaken.”
Obviously, the attempt of this talented girl from Peking University was successful, and the number of viewers in the live broadcast room has increased significantly.
More importantly, the income from the live broadcast room is providing huge support for research and development, and many people and resources have learned about Cai Lei through live broadcasts and actively sought contact. This is undoubtedly of great significance to drug research and development work.
As for the career that her husband has devoted all his life to, Duan Rui said: "Many people will give advice to others, but in fact you don't know that he has tried it all. If you really have a chance to be in his situation, you may not be able to Do it better, then say nothing. That’s the most important lesson I’ve ever learned.”
When talking about the more distant future of the live broadcast room, she told China-Singapore Health Reporter, "If there are still people doing things to overcome ALS in the future, then I will continue to do it and let it be a source of (funding). If not, , I might also want to take a rest.”
As for whether he will personally take over his husband's career and continue to overcome ALS in the future, Duan Rui said, "It's a bit far away now. I might give it a try, but I am very clear about my abilities. He (Cai Lei) The coordinated work cannot be achieved through hard work and requires you to have strong negotiation skills, because each party involves huge interests, and I do not yet have such ability."
Data map: There are many sculptures of Monkey King in Cai Lei’s office.
Photo by reporter Zhang Ni
Maybe he was destined to do this
"I hope everyone who is suffering from difficulties can also draw some strength from us."
During this Spring Festival, Cai Lei did not forget to encourage netizens who were experiencing difficulties when recording a blessing video.
Optimism and perseverance are the impression he has always left on the public.
He told China-Singapore health reporters in an interview that after getting sick, he was faced with a new topic - 4 years or 40 years left in life. What choice would you make under different circumstances?
"My choice is to cherish four years and do something that I may not have been able to do in the past 40 years, to promote the progress of science and to do something that is meaningful to life saving and even human progress. So I Choosing to give up something that used to make a lot of money and do something that may not be financially rewarding for a long time, but I think it makes more sense.”
Cai Lei also takes it lightly with regard to his unreserved devotion to the cause of overcoming ALS.
After falling ill, Cai Lei changed his WeChat avatar to Sun Wukong and placed many Sun Wukong ornaments in his home and office. He once said that he hoped to draw energy from Sun Wukong's fighting spirit.
This has since become a short story that the media has been keen to tell the public.
But perhaps, as the staff around Cai Lei commented: "He is himself, a unique existence, and he is destined to do this." (End)