It has been more than a year since the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, and the city has reemerged from its encounter with a disease that took thousands of lives. Looking back, medical workers said it was not easy to recover from the emotional stress and trauma.

Hu Ming, the ICU director at Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, was among the first medical workers to devote to saving severely ill patients.

"It's taken me a long time to make my peace with these emotions," Hu said.

For the general public, the number of COVID-19 cases might look like some unfathomable digits that kept increasing. But for Hu, every case stands for a vivid image of an individual who has suffered through a devastating disease.

On January 28, 2020, during a rare break from working inside the infected red zone, Hu received a distressing call during which he learned that the condition of Yuan Haitao, his colleague and friend, had turned severe after he contracted the virus himself from patients. Yuan is the ICU director of Wuhan Union (Dongxihu) Hospital.

"If I get intubated in my own ICU, it would be terrible for my team's morale. If they saw that even the director was sick, they might think that everything was out of control," said Yuan, as he sought a transfer to Hu's ward.

"He was my friend and brother. We fought side by side against the virus," Hu said. "When he came to me asking for help, I simply couldn't stop crying."

Read More: 

Wuhan ICU doctor reflects on COVID-19 frontline experience

Medical couple spend Chinese New Year's Eve helping the sick in Wuhan

Hu and his team tried everything they could to cure Yuan. After three days of intensive treatment, they were able to reduce his fever and bring him back from the brink of death.

Despite his physical weakness, Yuan went right back to work alongside his teammates after self-quarantine. Meanwhile, he deeply appreciated Hu for saving his life.

"It's a valuable friendship," Yuan said. "Especially since it came to a matter of life and death."

Yuan was only one of the many lives that Hu saved during the Wuhan breakout. In the beginning, there was barely any hope in sight. During the pandemic, 70 percent of the patients in Hu's ICU ward were on life support, while doctors with varying experience levels knew little about the disease. Hu and his team worked day and night to deal with the massive volume of patients.

It was a selfless effort. During the epidemic in the city, more than 1,000 medical workers contracted the disease from patients.

"My only real concern was how to save lives," Hu said. "It was a very trying time for us, an unforgettable time."

Hu's wife, Wang Jie, was a nurse in the same hospital. Separated by the red zone, Hu was rarely able to answer her calls or meet with her during breaks. They also have a 10-year-old son, whom they couldn't be with most of the time due to long work hours.

"Now when I recall what happened, I still feel sad. At that time, we didn't know if we would be here today," Wang said.

But Hu and his colleagues, including Yuan and Wang, knew that they have overcome a difficult challenge. They came to cherish and understand life more because of how closely they have once come into contact with death.

"During this pandemic, I feel a greater sense of awe towards life. I had so closely dealt with so many severely ill patients. This experience allows me to understand the current peak of medical science," Hu said. "I now more or less understand the many meanings of life itself."

(CMG contributed to the video footage. Huang Yi, He Menng and Meng Mingwei contributed to the story.)

More episodes from Revisiting Wuhan

Reporter discovers Wuhan's transformation after overcoming COVID-19

Wuhan's 'local foreigner': China an example in handling the virus

Police officer at Wuhan's Hankou Railway Station recalls 76-day lockdown

Recalling how Wuhan's Huoshenshan Hospital was built in 10 days