A knife in his hand, a fire in his heart. With this article, I would like to mourn Wu Mengchao, the "father of China's liver and gallbladder".
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May 22, which was originally an ordinary day, became synonymous with sadness because of the death of two superstars.
First, Wu Mengchao, the "father of Chinese hepatobiliary surgery", waved away, and 5 minutes later, Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice", also left the world. Two stars a sunset, Kunlun also shook.
Yuan Gong's name is known all over the world, and Wu Gong's name is little known. When facing a seriously ill patient, someone once advised him: "Such a big tumor, no one dares to do it, you do it, in case something happens, your reputation will be gone." ”
But he smiled indifferently, "What is my reputation, am I just a Wu Mengchao!" "Why would he dare to take such a risk, because he regards treating the sick as his vocation?"
● Image from The Reader
This kind grandfather who treated patients was actually very temperamental and often reprimanded his disciples. Once he found that the medicine used by the patient was very expensive, and the young doctor told him that many family members now asked for the drug.
Elder Wu said unceremoniously, "Is it the family's request or your doctor's speech?" (Another medicine) three days to play six sticks, six sticks is less than 100 yuan. How much does it cost you to use this medicine? So think for the sake of the patient. ”
In Elder Wu's view, when a patient comes to you for medical treatment, he entrusts his life to you and must be responsible for the lives of others. The doctor's duty is to cure the patient's disease, not to cause trouble for the patient, and not to take money out of their pockets.
Such a high wind, people are impressed! According to official statistics: Wu Mengchao has been practicing medicine for more than 70 years, has completed more than 16,000 surgeries, and at the age of 96, he still insists on three surgeries a week, and has successfully treated nearly 20,000 patients.
In this life, he not only changed the cause of hepatobiliary surgery in China, but also profoundly affected the world. He is recognized as a mainland medical magnate who is expected to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine after Tu Youyou.
At 13:02 on May 22, he died in Shanghai at the age of 99. But his spirit and story will forever float over China.
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Wu Mengchao was born on August 31, 1922 in Minqing County, Fujian Province. When he was 5 years old, his mother took him across the ocean to his father, who was wandering in Malaysia.
When he was a teenager, Wu Mengchao helped his father cut rubber while reading. They painstakingly collected the sap from the rubber trees and then dried them to make film. But the British colonists monopolized the pricing power of the market, and only sold 100 pounds for 4 yuan.
When he graduated from junior high school, his father wanted to send him to England to study. But he flatly refused: "Are we less bullied by the British?" ”
● Wu Mengchao in his youth
A bold idea arose in the teenager's heart. At that time, China was full of wars, and he wanted to return to his motherland to participate in the anti-Japanese rescue.
In 1940, at the age of 18, he really put into action, gave up a stable and prosperous life abroad, and returned to the motherland with several overseas Chinese classmates.
He originally wanted to go to Yan'an, the holy land of revolution, but because the Kuomintang's anti-communist actions did not succeed, he stayed in the Affiliated Middle School of Tongji University in Kunming to study, bent on studying and saving the country.
Three years later, he was admitted to the medical school of Tongji University and dreamed of becoming a surgeon. But after a year of graduation internship, he was assigned to pediatrics by the school.
Frustrated, he ran to complain, and the director of the medical department explained: The school is a merit-based admission, your surgical score is only 65 points, but the pediatric score is the first in the class.
Wu Mengchao was very stubborn, still wanted to go to surgery, the director of the medical department was angry: "You are only 1.62 meters, can you be a surgeon?" ”
Seeing that the road ahead was not clear, Wu Mengchao simply gave up the job assigned by the school and ran to another hospital to apply.
Although his surgical performance was not very good, the momentum and tenacity of his body deeply impressed the director of surgery, and Wu Mengchao became a surgeon as he wished.
In 1956, Qiu Fazu, the "father of Chinese surgery", went to their hospital as an adjunct professor. Wu Mengchao had to meet a good teacher, follow the shadow, figure out the skills, and practice the scalpel method to become divine.
Qiu Fazu admired this studious disciple and pointed out to him the direction of the future. General surgery is very old, thoracic surgery and brain surgery have been relatively mature, today's liver surgery is still very weak, and China is a high incidence of liver disease.
After hearing the teacher's kind words, Wu Mengchao clarified the goal of struggle and launched a charge to the field of hepatobiliary surgery.
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In 1958, in order to quickly enter the field of hepatobiliary surgery, Wu Mengchao almost ran all over the library in Shanghai, and all the works with the word "liver" were carefully read, and finally found a treasure: the English version of "Introduction to Liver Surgery".
He quickly pulled his colleagues along, translating the book into Chinese in just over a month. This is the first monograph on liver surgery translated and published since the founding of New China, filling the gap in China.
At that time, the level of domestic surgery was far behind that of the international, and hepatobiliary surgery was extremely risky. Due to the dense blood vessels in the liver, the slightest carelessness can cause heavy bleeding.
To solve this problem, a specimen of the liver had to be made and the complex vascular veins in it had to be figured out. The hospital specially set up a "three-person research group" headed by Wu Mengchao to overcome this problem.
● "Three-person research group" composed of Wu Mengchao (right), Zhang Xiaohua and Hu Hongkai
Wu Mengchao and they stayed in the simple laboratory every day, with only a table and a few stools to accompany them. After more than four months of research, they finally produced China's first structurally intact liver specimen.
Later, they produced hundreds of specimens, thoroughly understood the structure and blood vessels of the liver, and creatively proposed the far-reaching anatomical theory of "five leaves and four segments".
Only by knowing oneself and knowing the other can one never lose a battle. After thoroughly studying the "enemy", Wu Mengchao personally took the lead in 1960 and successfully completed the first liver cancer resection operation in China.
Later, he led the team to make rapid progress, and raised the originally weak hepatobiliary surgery in China to the world level. According to statistics:
"He pioneered the 'intermittent hepatic hilar blockade and resection method' and 'hemohemotic liver method at room temperature' in China, completed the world's first 'middle lobectomy', also removed the world's largest 'hepatic cavernous hemangioma' so far, and completed the world's first case of direct removal of liver tumors under laparoscopy."
The success rate of liver cancer surgery in China suddenly went from less than 50% to more than 90%, so he was known as the "father of Hepatobiliary Surgery in China".
In 1979, he participated in the 28th International Conference on Surgery in San Francisco, USA. Two foreign experts shared a paper on liver surgery, and together they had 18 liver cancer surgeries.
When Wu Mengchao came to power, he modestly said that he had undergone 181 liver cancer surgeries, and the whole audience looked at him with incredible eyes.
This Chinese is simply terrifyingly strong.
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In this world, there are many people with outstanding intelligence, and every era will also appear to be the world's best heroes. But even the best people in the world are not necessarily respected, because character is equally important.
The reason why Wu Mengchao makes people look up to him, in addition to his contribution to the field of hepatobiliary surgery, is that he is higher than the dust of his character.
In order to save money for patients, he always arranged for department doctors to prescribe low-cost drugs with the same effect, remove all unnecessary examinations, use less expensive instruments, and use more brains and hands to diagnose and treat.
"The instrument was used once, clicked more than 1,000 pieces, I Wu Mengchao sewed threads by hand, not a penny."
Whenever it was winter, he would put the stethoscope on his chest to cover the heat, and then check the patient. When it is necessary to touch the patient's body with his hands, he will rub his hands hot.
And after each examination, he will help the patient put away his shoes and tuck in the corners of the quilt. These tiny details completely expose a person's cultivation.
As for the intractable and critically ill patients, as mentioned at the beginning, he never cared about the risks of failure.
He once stood for 12 hours continuously, removed a huge tumor of 63 centimeters in the man's body, and erased the patient from the list of the god of death.
I also fought for 5 hours for a 4-month-old baby girl to remove hepatoblastoma from her young body. Today, this baby girl has grown into an excellent nurse.
In 2005, Wu Mengchao won the country's highest science and technology award, the highest level award given to citizens in China. The superior sent someone to assess, and it was reasonable to say that the operation on the day should be canceled.
But Wu Mengchao walked into the operating room as scheduled, because the patient came from the countryside and came from a poor family. Staying in the hospital for one more day is a huge burden for his family.
Just like his teachings to his juniors, he practiced them again and again with his actions.
"Children, there is no shortage of experts in this world, there is no shortage of authority, what is lacking is a 'person' - a person who is willing to give himself out. When you help others, remember that medicine is sometimes exhausted, and only inexhaustible love can illuminate a suffering soul. ”
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In the "Reader" program, Wu Lao showed his slightly deformed right index finger, which was slightly bent inward, which was the result of long surgery.
What is less well known is that Elder Wu's toes are more deformed. The second toe of his right foot is actually on the big toe, showing a strange "X" shape, which is difficult to break.
The reason is also the years of surgery, each operation stands for several hours, or even more than ten hours. Over time, the toes that grasped the ground were overwhelmed and deformed.
As a result of his significant contribution, on July 26, 2010, the International Minor Planet Center permanently named asteroid 17606 "Wu Meng Superstar".
In 2012, he was named the moving Chinese of the year, and the award speech was very moving:
60 years ago, Wu Mengchao built the first operating table
I haven't left to this day
A knife in his hand, a knife, still precise
A fire in the heart, keeping the oath, never extinguished
He was a tireless old horse
The patients must be driven across the river one by one
He has won so many awards, but Elder Wu still has regrets in his heart, that is, he did not overcome liver cancer.
"I am now in my 90s, and conquering liver cancer probably can't be achieved in my lifetime, so I need to cultivate more talents, pave this platform, and let future generations continue to move forward."
The 2020 Global Tumor Report shows: "There will be 910,000 new cases of liver cancer in the world in 2020, of which 410,000 will be new to Liver Cancer in China, accounting for more than 45% of the world." ”
China is the core area of liver cancer, and from this data, we can see how meaningful Wu Mengchao's contribution is.
Adonis wrote in My Loneliness is a Garden: "There is only one way to conquer death: to change the world before death." ”
Although some people are far away, they have long since become white clouds in the sky, turning into drizzle to moisturize the mountains and plains, and leisurely guarding the land they love.
From this point of view, whether it is Wu Mengchao or Yuan Longping, they have not left. Every time I see the clouds in the sky, countless people must miss them.
Death is not really a passing, forgetting is an eternal demise. How can these people who protect the people and the people be forgotten?
Our hearts, our eyes, our minds, will surely remember them forever. Text/Ling Fox Empty