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Chinese cancer patient’s suicide note leads police to cave in which he planned to die

Husband and father of two told his wife to ‘find a healthy and considerate man’ to care for her after he died

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Cancer patient Xia planned to die alone in a cave after swallowing pesticide, but the suicide note he left to his family helped police to find him and take him home. Photo: News.sina.com.cn
Alice Yanin Shanghai

A Chinese man suffering from cancer who ran away to die so he would not be a burden to his family has been reunited with his wife and children, according to a local newspaper report.

Police officers found the man, identified only by his surname Xia, hiding in a cave just hours after his wife reported him missing, Qianjiang Evening News reported.

The woman, who was not named, alerted the authorities after finding a farewell note penned by her husband at their home in Panan county, Zhejiang province.

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Rescue teams found Xia hiding in a small cave at the site of a disused coal mine. Photo: News.sina.com.cn
Rescue teams found Xia hiding in a small cave at the site of a disused coal mine. Photo: News.sina.com.cn
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“I left home not because you don’t treat me well, but because you treat me too well,” he wrote.

The report did not say what type of cancer Xia was suffering from, but said he had undergone several rounds of chemotherapy and multiple surgical procedures.

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