Corona Virus Doctor's Letter to His Son
"Son, have you ever looked into the eyes of patients and their families for help? They always look to me to give me their faith and desire to live."
Those were the opening lines of the letter that Dr. Cao Xiaoying, 56 years old, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Treatment at Hunan Province No. 2 People's Hospital, sent to his son before entering the quarantine area for doctors and medical staff fighting the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic.
"I understand the pain and torture they are enduring because of the epidemic, my son," the letter continued.
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Doctor Cao Xiaoying's handwritten letter to her son before entering the quarantine area. Photo: The paper. |
Dr. Cao Xiaoying retired before the Lunar New Year, but when the Hunan provincial government announced the outbreak of the coronavirus, she immediately returned to join nearly 60 doctors and nurses at the Infectious Disease Center to fight the epidemic. With more than 30 years of experience in epidemic prevention and control, she took on the treatment of the first infected case in the locality.
Before this decision, Ms. Cao's son had a heated argument with his mother. He had planned to introduce his girlfriend to her during the New Year. Before returning to the hospital, Ms. Cao prepared a full New Year's Eve dinner for her son to treat his girlfriend, and left a letter in the hope that he would understand her feelings.
In the letter, Dr. Cao apologized to her son for not fulfilling her duties as a mother, but she repeated many times that she loved him very much.
"Son, if I choose to be a doctor, I will not be able to fully reunite with my family.
I love you 100%, but I can't spend 100% of my time with you. I know the dangers of this job, I feel the pain and torture of the epidemic. My lifelong wish is to eliminate those things. I'm sorry son, our short separation will bring laughter to millions of families. This is what doctors like me should do."
At the end of the letter, the woman wrote: "Son, paper is short but my love for you is long. I will always wear protective gear, rest assured and help me protect my family. I need to protect my responsibility. When the epidemic subsides, I promise to be with you as much as possible. I believe you can understand, right?"
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Doctor Cao Xiaoying works in the isolation area of the Hunan Provincial Infectious Disease Treatment Center. Photo: The paper. |
On January 26, after the letter was widely shared on Chinese social media, many people expressed their feelings.
"In the midst of the epidemic storm, Dr. Cao's letter made me choke up and admire her spirit of devotion to her patients," a Weibo user wrote.
Meanwhile, another reader commented: "I hope all the angels in white on the front lines will return home safely and reunite with their families."
Health officials in China's Hubei province said on the morning of January 28 that 24 more people had died from pneumonia caused by the coronavirus (nCoV), bringing the total number of deaths from the disease to 106. Most of the victims were in Hubei province, where the outbreak began late last month in the capital Wuhan. The number of nCoV infections in China also increased by 31%, from 2,887 to 4,193.
