Former Vice President of JD.com, Cai Lei, "Re Entrepreneurship": The Last Struggle of a Patient with Hypothyroidism

More than thirty years ago, Cai Lei, who was still in third grade, met two senior "thugs" after school. One of the boys slapped Cai Lei on the back of the head as a provocation

More than thirty years ago, Cai Lei, who was still in third grade, met two senior "thugs" after school. One of the boys slapped Cai Lei on the back of the head as a provocation. After being stunned for a few seconds, Cai Lei clenched his backpack strap and swung behind the boy who was hitting him

I know I can't do them, but if you dare provoke me, I dare to do it with you. "This was Cai Lei's simple understanding as an eight or nine year old boy at the time.

More than 30 years later, many new titles and labels were added to the skinny young people of that year. The former vice president of JD.com, off campus tutors of graduate students from many well-known universities, and promoters of China's electronic invoices... However, his most important identity now is the anti frostbite fighter. This time he encountered the most domineering and overbearing opponent, but his first reaction was still to take the initiative to attack.

You can't wait to die! The Last Struggle of a Patient with Hypothyroidism

At the end of September 2019, 41 year old Cai Lei suffered the biggest blow in his life, as his fate was intertwined with one of the world's top five incurable diseases, the condition of permafrost.

"There should be only one possibility." Fan Dongsheng, his doctor in charge and a top expert in the field of domestic frostbite diagnosis and treatment, used a sentence to completely rewrite the life of the then vice president of JD.com.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, has an average survival period of 2 to 5 years. Currently, there are no drugs to prevent or reverse the condition, and the effect of delaying the disease is weak.

Can someone who doesn't even want to wait for an elevator now have to wait to death? Inpatient inspection, Doctor shopping, witnessing the departure of patients... Cai Lei has experienced everything that ordinary patients have experienced.

Is there really no other way? He realized that he had to take the initiative to do something - since there was no medicine, he would take the initiative to promote research and development! In the next nearly four years, this became the most important task in Cai Lei's life, and he said he was "the last time starting a business".

After hastily finishing lunch, Cai Lei introduced his work progress to the reporter, "We now have more than 20 groups of patients with Alzheimer's disease, each with 500 people. The total number of patients now exceeds 10000

The participation of these patients is crucial for the work Cai Lei is currently doing. The research data platform "Gradually Healing Mutual Aid Home", which he is leading, has reached more than 10000 patients and has become the world's largest research platform for patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Compared with the past, when there were only a few cases in each hospital and data could not be connected, the establishment of this platform will greatly promote disease research and Drug development. In Cai Lei's words, researchers can not only obtain more sufficient research data, but also bring a large number of patients together, which is conducive to solving the problem of patient recruitment in clinical Drug development, as well as seeking investors, so that they can see the investment value behind this.

If we just wait, wouldn't there be no hope? "Cai Lei said. People often feel that with the progress of technology, new drugs may appear to be developed naturally, but in fact, this cannot be separated from human motivation.

There's not much time left for me

After his illness, Cai Lei's work pace did not slow down, and now he is almost filled with work every day except for sleeping.

You're committing suicide! "His wife and those around him once complained about him.

This is not alarmist, as Cai Lei's condition is progressing at a visible speed. Around July and August of last year, he was able to operate with his phone, but by the beginning of this year, his hands were completely "useless". He had to rely on help from others to eat, drink water, and dress, and to operate the mouse, he could only rely on a special pedal connected to the computer to complete the work with his feet throughout the entire process. Even so, he still didn't stop to rest.

My condition shouldn't have developed so quickly. I'm too tired and anxious every day, fighting every day

Cai Lei's anxiety comes from time. Although death is a word that everyone avoids talking about, it is like a dark cloud constantly hanging over the head for patients with Alzheimer's disease, and they have to face it.

Over the years, many of the patients Cai Lei has known have already left. Some of them were not much different from normal people when they first entered the patient group, but soon had limited mobility, got into a wheelchair, and even ended up using a ventilator.

But Drug development is a long cycle, which usually takes at least 10 years, and the investment is also an astronomical figure, especially for Rare disease with a small audience. But for Cai Lei, who was sentenced to death, and tens of thousands of patients, they didn't have that long to wait.

Reading scientific research papers, contacting experts, finding investors... Now, Cai Lei's team's work is calculated in hours. However, due to the uncertainty of investment prospects and other reasons, the promotion of Drug development is still difficult.

In the second half of 2022, Cai Lei opened his own Tiktok account, and more than two months later, he started the live broadcast of "Ice Breaking Posthouse". However, Cai Lei did not receive the income from the live broadcast, but put it into scientific research and Drug development.

There's not much time left for me, I'm not afraid of death, but who will do these things when I die? So we've been working hard, 365 days without a day off, working 16 hours a day, "Cai Lei said.

I may really be Don Quixote

Since its discovery for nearly 200 years, the etiology of permafrost remains unknown. However, nowadays, a Chinese patient actually wants to challenge and conquer this incurable disease. Some people compare Cai Lei's behavior to "riding a bicycle to the moon", while others call him "Don Quixote".

I was once interviewed using such words, and I was surprised. How did I become a Quixote? I am such a reliable person, I analyze things rationally and objectively, have steps, strategies, and strategies. In the past, I have also started four companies in a row. How did I become an ethereal and meaningless fighter? But after careful consideration, it makes sense in the eyes of others

Cai Lei said that in the past 30 years, top scientists and pharmaceutical companies have spent more than $1 trillion on neurodegenerative diseases. At present, from the perspective of breakthrough, almost all of them have failed, As a patient like me, I may only have a quarter of my life left, or I may have passed away within six months. People who are not familiar with this disease often believe in my spirit and think 'I can definitely succeed'. People who understand this disease and do scientific research know that my probability of success in doing this thing may only be 1/10 billion

The questioning voice not only comes from professionals, but even patients and ordinary people may doubt the true purpose behind Cai Lei's "madness". Is collecting patient information for personal gain? "" Do you even want to 'cut leeks' when you have a terminal illness? "" You just want to save yourself! "... However, for Cai Lei, he doesn't have time to defend these doubts one by one.

Looking back at his work in recent years, is he really a stubborn 'Don Quixote'?

Cai Lei said that in the past 200 years before the first half of 2020, only 14 drug clinical trials in China were about progressive frostbite. From the second half of 2020 to the present, Cai Lei and his team have promoted more than 100 pipelines of Drug development through their efforts, and the speed has been greatly improved.

It's difficult for people to persist in doing something they don't even believe in. Since I'm doing it, I firmly believe that there will be a breakthrough in this matter with me. It may not save my life, but there will definitely be new breakthroughs

Will there be a successor?

In order to overcome the problem of progressive frostbite, Cai Lei has been willing to recruit top students from prestigious schools to join his team with high salaries in recent years. However, few people can truly persist in staying.

These top students all have a great way out, they can go to research institutes, medical and health institutions, they are stable and have sufficient social status. Do you have a future here as a research individual who works with a 'crazy person' who doesn't even have a life

Cai Lei is well aware that, in the eyes of smart people, the work he does is more "worthless" and a "waste of career", so the smarter the person, the less likely they are to persist. On the contrary, some things require some foolishness, to believe and persist foolishly.

Looking back at his entrepreneurial experiences in the past few years after falling ill, he joked to himself, "I used to struggle, and now I also struggle. But in the past, I fought for the so-called career, and even for the so-called corporate profit. Now, I struggle harder and harder, but I actually feel that what I do is more valuable

Of course, he would rather find a successor to continue his career, because no one knows when his life will come to an end.

However, the stubborn Cai Lei still has his last "bullet" - his own body. He decided to donate his brain and spinal cord tissue after his death, promoting the donation of brain and spinal cord tissue for patients with Alzheimer's disease, and firing the last bullet.

Since 2022, at the call of Cai Lei, more than a thousand patients and their families have actively responded to the call. Duan Shumin, an academician of the CAS Member and director of the academic committee of the National Human Brain Resources Bank for Health and Disease, once described it as an "unprecedented feat".

At the end of the interview, the reporter asked Cai Lei this question: If life really came to an end, how would people evaluate themselves?

He said, "I don't even have life anymore, so it doesn't matter how I evaluate me anymore. Most importantly, I hope to inherit my spirit of resistance that I won't give up, because it can help others

Column Editor in Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Lu Xiaochuan Inscription Source: China News Network

Source: Author: Zhongxin Network

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