Five Years After Leukemia Relapse and Stem Cell Transplant, He Gives Flowers to the Wife Who Cared for Him for Seven Years

Summary: In 2019, Mr. Xu was diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph-positive ALL) after persistent headaches and a low-grade fever. His treatment journey included a severe fungal lung infection, relapse, and several difficult treatment decisions. In February 2021, he ultimately underwent an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. After transplant, he faced severe oral mucositis, diarrhea, infections, and ischemic strokes. With treatment from his medical team and seven years of steadfast care from his wife, Mrs. Dai, he made it through one challenge after another and, five years after transplant, reached his recovery "graduation" milestone. Their story follows not only one leukemia patient's path from relapse and transplant to long-term stability, but also the devotion, responsibility, and love of a partner who never left his side.

Blood disorders can involve long and intensive treatment journeys, and patients often need tremendous support from their families. In countless homes, the person who takes on much of that responsibility is the patient's spouse.

At GoBroad Shanghai Zhaxin Hospital / Shanghai Liquan Hospital, there are many couples like this. Some are newly married, while others have shared decades together. When serious illness enters their lives, they become each other's strongest source of support.

Love is not always spoken aloud. More often, it is seen in the day-to-day care, the sleepless nights, and simply being there. Mr. Xu and Mrs. Dai are one such couple.

Recently, 63-year-old Mr. Xu marked five years of recovery with a special "graduation" ceremony at GoBroad Shanghai Zhaxin Hospital.

At this meaningful moment, he turned and handed the flowers he was holding to Mrs. Dai, who had cared for him for seven years. The bouquet said what words could not: thank you for never leaving my side.

Mr. Xu and Mrs. Dai also sat down with us to look back on the difficult road they had traveled together.

 February 2026: Mr. Xu with members of his care team

- Patient Q&A -

Q1: From an unexpected diagnosis to the first turning point, can you take us back to how the illness was discovered, how the diagnosis was confirmed, and how treatment began?

Mr. Xu: In mid-to-late March 2019, I went to the hospital after several days of headaches and an unexplained low-grade fever. In early April, the results came back: Philadelphia chromosome-positive B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph-positive B-ALL). A hard fight had begun without warning.

After my third round of chemotherapy, I developed a severe fungal infection in my lungs with a large pleural effusion. The doctors performed a drainage procedure and removed more than 2 liters of fluid, so chemotherapy had to be paused. By late September, after going from hospital to hospital, I arrived at the Department of Hematology at Shanghai General Hospital. Professor Chun Wang carefully reviewed my case. Because a repeat genetic test was negative, he recommended moving quickly to an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant, which generally allows faster immune recovery, but only if three consecutive fusion-gene tests were negative.

In early 2020, I followed Professor Wang to the newly opened GoBroad Shanghai Zhaxin Hospital.

As soon as I was admitted, we repeated the genetic test for the third time. Unfortunately, because pneumonia had delayed my chemotherapy earlier, the leukemia cells had started to return. At that point, if we wanted to clear the disease and still aim for a cure, we needed a more intensive approach. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation became the only option.

The thought of an allogeneic transplant was frightening. We knew there could be severe infections and unpredictable graft-versus-host complications, so the whole family hesitated. Just when we felt we were running out of options, a new treatment plan gave us a way forward. We first got the fusion-gene test back to negative, then went through six alternating cycles of chemotherapy at different intensities, followed by a third-generation targeted therapy to keep the disease under control. By June of the following year, I had finished all the chemotherapy and went home to recover, full of hope.

Q2: When the disease came back and you were facing another major decision, what ultimately made you choose allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation?

Mrs. Dai: One day in August 2020, he suddenly felt a pain near his right cheek and ear, almost like an insect bite. Dermatology treatment did not help, and soon the entire right side of his face was swollen and he had a fever. At one point, we even wondered if it was mumps. Dr. Jun Zhu treated him and the symptoms improved with medication, but they came back quickly after the medication was stopped. We told Dr. Zhu what had happened, and he immediately became concerned and told us to come into the hospital.

The leukemia had fully relapsed, and this time the symptoms were more aggressive than ever. The doctors were preparing him for cell therapy, which meant his regular medication had to be stopped beforehand. As soon as the medication was discontinued, an ulcerated lesion appeared in the middle of his chin and became so deep that the bone could be seen. Overnight, his scalp was covered in tiny raised spots, almost like heat rash. On top of that, he had severe bone pain all over his body, especially around the joints. It hurt so much that he could not even step over the small threshold into our bathroom at home.

At that point, we had nowhere else to turn. An allogeneic stem cell transplant was our only hope.

It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, and our daughter was away at school and could not come home. We therefore started a donor search through the China Marrow Donor Program while he received a new bispecific antibody therapy. Before long, we received good news: a matched donor had been found, and the volunteer was willing to donate. Our whole family is still deeply grateful to this stranger we have never met.

In February 2021, he underwent an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant and successfully left the transplant unit. But we soon realized that getting through the transplant itself was only the first step.

For the first three years, one problem seemed to follow another. It felt like fighting monsters: as soon as we beat one, another appeared. So we faced them one at a time, and got through them one at a time.

Q3: Looking back on the entire treatment journey, what was the hardest period for you?

Mrs. Dai: The most difficult time was right after the transplant. His mouth was covered in severe ulcers, so painful that he could not eat anything. The diarrhea was just as bad - five or six times a day, sometimes six or seven. He was so weak that he could barely make the few steps from the bed to the bathroom, and often did not get there in time. I would finish cleaning up, turn around, and it would happen again. It went on all day, and the room could become chaotic.

I especially want to thank Dr. Chuxian Zhao. She was incredibly responsible and attentive. She asked me to let her know every time he had a bowel movement so she could assess it herself. At first I called her each time, but there were so many that I felt bad asking her to come over again and again. So I started taking photos and sending them to her instead - six or seven times a day. I felt embarrassed, but Dr. Zhao never showed any impatience. She carefully reviewed every single photo.

The doctors explained that his gut function was essentially having to rebuild and readapt. At that stage, almost everything he ate passed straight through, so food had to be added back slowly and carefully.

We started with the clearest rice porridge water, one spoonful at a time, almost like feeding a newborn. When he improved a little, I minced Chinese yam very finely and added tiny amounts to the porridge. Every meal felt like an experiment, and every day felt like walking a tightrope.

Q4: Mrs. Dai, you have been the person standing behind Mr. Xu throughout this journey. What have you learned from caring for him over the years that you would like to share with other families?

Mrs. Dai: Leaving the transplant unit was really only the first step in a very long recovery.

By then, his body had been through so much that he seemed even more fragile than a newborn, and his risk of infection was far higher than that of a healthy person. From that day on, I did not dare let my guard down. I handled everything myself. We had a medical-grade sterilizing device at home, and every day I cleaned the floors and tables with Dettol disinfectant. I removed as much clutter as I could so there were fewer places for germs to collect. Even with all that, he still developed pneumonia repeatedly. Sometimes all it took was one cough or a slightly different sound in his breathing for my heart to drop. We would go to the hospital, and sure enough, it would be pneumonia. Over the years, I developed my own internal "alarm" - just hearing his cough was enough to tell me something was wrong.

For a patient recovering from a stem cell transplant, food safety became one of the biggest things I watched. From the day he left the transplant unit, every meal mattered. I cooked food fresh for every meal, never served leftovers, and avoided raw, cold, or externally prepared foods. One thing a doctor told me stayed with me: "If hygiene is done properly, the patient has a better chance of going the distance. Once an infection happens, no one can predict the consequences." I was not willing to take that risk.

I was also extremely careful with fruit. For apples and pears, I washed them under running water first, then wiped the outside with a disinfecting wipe or rinsed them with boiling water. The knife was disinfected, my hands were washed, and once I started peeling, I peeled straight through without touching the flesh with my fingers. The fruit went directly into a disinfected bowl, and he picked it up himself with chopsticks. Bananas and oranges were easier because they could be peeled. Blueberries and strawberries were hard to clean thoroughly, so I simply did not buy them. Over the past two years, his blood counts have stabilized and his immunity has improved, so I no longer disinfect the outer skin, but I still keep the rule of not touching the peeled fruit with my hands.

What scared me was the thought that one unsafe bite could undo years of hard work. I cannot speak for everything, but when it came to what he ate, I watched it as carefully as I could, and thankfully we never had a major problem from food.

It was not until last year that I finally felt comfortable taking him on a trip. We drove to a hotel with friends. Before we left, I packed a disinfection lamp, along with our own sheets, duvet cover, and pillowcases. When we reached the hotel, I went straight to our room, made the bed with everything we had brought, set up the disinfection lamp, and only let him come in after the room had been disinfected. Our friends said I was too nervous. But after everything we had been through, taking a chance was one thing I just could not bring myself to do.

Q5: Mr. Xu, it has now been five years since your transplant, and today you received a commemorative pin marking this milestone. How are you feeling?

Mr. Xu: Before I got sick, I was constantly busy with work and traveled often, so I did not spend much time with my family. Around the time I was diagnosed, I once thought about taking a trip to the grasslands and seeing China's vast landscapes one more time, then coming home and simply letting nature take its course, even if that meant stopping treatment. But then I thought about my daughter and my wife. How could I bear to leave them? No matter how hard things became, I kept going. I did not ask for much - I just wanted one more day with them, then another. As long as I am still here, there is hope. As long as I can keep going, our family is still whole.

So to have reached today, the people I most want to thank are the medical team at GoBroad Shanghai Zhaxin Hospital for being with me every step of the way.

Your expertise pulled me back from the edge and carried me through one stage after another. After all these years together, the doctors and nurses here feel like family.

Today, I am "graduating" here. This pin is not only a reminder of my recovery. It belongs to everyone at Zhaxin and to our family - a medal for the battle we fought and won together.

Q6: With Valentine's Day just around the corner, is there anything the two of you would like to say to each other?

Mrs. Dai: I was busy with work before I retired too, leaving early and coming home late every day. I had imagined that after retirement I would finally have time to slow down, travel, and enjoy life. Instead, he fell ill in April, one month before I retired in May. From then on, the two of us became inseparable - and that has lasted for more than seven years.

From the day he became ill, I never really relaxed. My whole life revolved around taking care of him. Only in the past two years, once his condition became stable, did I start occasionally meeting up with old friends again.

After 30 years of marriage, romantic love grows into something deeper - family, responsibility, and commitment. And after living that responsibility day after day, it simply becomes instinct.

If he coughs once, my heart skips. If he walks across the room, my eyes follow him. After seven years, caring for him has become part of everyday life. As long as he is here, our family is still here. And my responsibility is still right here too.

Mr. Xu: My wife and I have really made it through one difficult hurdle after another. The transplant brought my blood disease under control, but then life gave us another challenge. In 2023, I had three ischemic strokes. Every time, she noticed the warning signs quickly and got me to the hospital right away. Again and again, her decisiveness helped pull me through a dangerous moment.

I am incredibly lucky to have her in my life. She jokes that she must have owed me something in a past life, which is why she has had to work so hard for me in this one. But what I have never said out loud is this: I must have saved the world in a past life to be lucky enough to marry you in this one.