My daughter survives a harrowing experience, thanks to prompt action

In traditional Chinese culture, we relate benmingnian, or the year of our zodiac sign, with bad luck. On my 36th birthday, the first day of the third complete zodiac cycle in my life, I learned that our daughter had a malignant tumor.

At the time, she was 21 months old, and the diagnosis was a heavy blow to me and the family. But I'm willing to share our experience to tell people that we need to be brave and confident that patients with pediatric tumors can recover in many cases, although the process can be an arduous one.

In early October 2018, my wife found one of our daughter's legs was a little swollen. We were at our home in the middle of the mountains in rural Yunnan province, but thought the swelling was probably a mosquito bite.

It did not cause our daughter any discomfort, but worsened days later. We took her to a county-level hospital, where doctors suggested we to go to hospitals in a big city, so we returned to Shanghai, where my wife and I both work.

Ultrasound scans showed two possibilities of a disease involving a tumor. I felt devastated－it was as though my heart was being scratched by a tiger's claws. I searched online, finding one possibility that was benign and another that was malignant. In doing so, I became aware for the first time that children, like adults, can experience malignant tumors.

Through MRI scans and pathological examination, doctors confirmed that our daughter had a type of soft tissue sarcoma, the worse of the two possibilities.

Looking back on that first month, we felt heartbroken. But at the same time, we were fortunate, as we had wasted no time in getting the right diagnosis.

Through our experience, I believe that early discovery by parents and early diagnosis by medics are important. Doctors said that if my daughter had not been diagnosed and treated, she could have been a high-risk case in three months.

At the hospital in Shanghai, we met a number of families who had children with similar conditions. Some said that as their offspring had been misdiagnosed, they had missed the best time for treatment.

On Nov 7, a month after we found the suspected mosquito bite on our daughter's leg, she started chemotherapy. She experienced a number of side effects, such as low immunity, mouth ulcers, and lost appetite－sometimes for a week.

She underwent three surgeries, 12 bouts of chemotherapy and radiotherapy 28 times during those 12 months of treatment. It was a really hard time, but my brave little girl made it.

In April 2020, I took her to an amusement park for the first time. It was six months after she had completed the entire course of treatment and had recovered sufficiently to go out.

She eventually realized her dream of riding a merry-go-round, and seeing her enjoy herself so much moved me to tears. Finally, after all the treatment, she was a child no different from others.

Now, she goes to kindergarten every day. She likes dancing, drawing and watching Peppa Pig, just like many of her peers.

Song Xuedong was talking to Zhou Wenting.