Saving children betters the future

Documentary series highlights the resilience of kids facing traumatic diseases and injuries, and the doctors who fight for their physical and mental recovery, Wang Ru reports.

No one could have predicted that a flu could lead to such a disaster. At the end of last year, after suffering the flu and a two-day fever, 10-year-old Niannian caught fulminant myocarditis, a severe disease that can worsen the condition and lead to death.

Luckily, with the help of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation, better known as ECMO, Niannian was saved. However, the complication resulted in severe necrosis of his right lower leg. To save his life, doctors had to cut into his right leg to remove the necrotic tissue.

During this critical juncture, the most direct and effective surgical option was to amputate the leg from his hip joint, which would make it impossible to fit him with a prosthetic limb in the future, hindering him from walking again.

Considering this outcome, his doctors and parents made a bold decision: amputate his leg from the knee and cut the necrotic tissue from his thigh, gradually removing the rest of the necrotic tissue. Although much more complicated, this approach helps maintain part of his thigh, enabling him to stand again using a prosthetic limb.

After 13 surgeries, Niannian recovered from the severe disease. Through countless obstacles and tears, he regained a hopeful future.

The story is recounted in the third season of The Glorious Pediatricians, a documentary that gives a panoramic view of how doctors and patients cooperate to treat diseases in various departments of the Shanghai Children's Medical Center.

Produced by popular video platform Bilibili and media company TVZone Media, among others, the 10-episode documentary has been airing on Bilibili and Shanghai-based Dragon TV since June.