2025.12.23 14:28 GMT+8

The Icebreakers: Fighting ALS, believe in the power of believing

Updated 2025.12.23 14:28 GMT+8
CGTN

This is a story about fighting against time, frozen bodies and more than 150 years of medical despair.

In China, public awareness of ALS has become closely associated with one name: Cai Lei, former vice president of JD.com. After his diagnosis, he chose not to wait, but to act – building the world's largest patient-centered ALS research data platform and accelerating drug development at an unprecedented pace. What began as one man's response to illness has grown into a collective effort, drawing patients, scientists and drug developers into a shared attempt to break the ice of an incurable disease.

Six years into the battle, unable to speak or move, Cai reflects on this journey with CGTN through an eye-tracking device, showing how belief, when shared, can reshape hope.

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