"TALK" THERAPY: Huang Cuiping shares her experience in fighting against cancer with a cancer patient in the Shanghai East Hospital on March 2 (PEI XIN)

But unfortunately, Yu passed away regardless. Huang accompanied her through the last leg of life and bid her farewell at a funeral arranged by volunteers.

"It's my great pleasure to help other cancer patients lead a decent life," Huang said.

In the same boat

Lu Jishan, 64, is another cancer patient whose life course has changed largely due to Huang's efforts.

When Lu was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2008, he was about to retire. "The diagnosis smashed all my hopes about life," Lu recalled, "I felt awful, scared and at loss."

When Lu was in despair, Huang and another volunteer came to help him. "In the beginning, I did not want to listen to them. I felt that my disease was incurable and that they couldn't do anything about it," Lu said.

But when Lu learned that the volunteers were cancer survivors, his attitude changed. "They are so healthy, so in them I see my future," Lu said.

Encouraged by the volunteers, Lu received chemotherapy. As he recuperated, he himself became a volunteer with the Shanghai East Hospital.

"Now, volunteering has become part of my life. I fight cancer myself while helping others to do so. Helping others, especially those with similar experiences makes my life very meaningful," Lu said.

In the decade or so since the Shanghai East Hospital launched its volunteer program, its volunteer team has expanded rapidly. Now more than 1,800 people volunteer with the hospital, who not only include former cancer patients, but also students and professionals. Some volunteers are from foreign countries such as the United States and Switzerland.

Volunteers also regularly receive training delivered by the Shanghai Hand-in-Hand Life Care Development Center, a non-profit organization that began as a voluntary psychological counseling group in 2008.

The center periodically organizes psychologists, doctors, nurses and social workers to provide care and counseling to cancer patients and their families. It also runs a helpline, and provides telephone counseling.

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