A Screenshot of Lu Ruoqing's Weibo in which she tweeted about her illness and thought-provoking words about love and life

A leukemia patient became the focus of the nation as she tweeted about her illness and thought-provoking words about love and life on her micro-blog.

Lu Ruoqing, real name Lu Chao, was a beautiful girl born in Qingdao, Shandong Province. She was diagnosed with leukemia at the advanced stage earlier this year, which prompted her family to send her to Beijing, where first-class hospitals are concentrated.

She received chemotherapy and stem cell transplants for the debilitating disease. Good news came this March when her stem cells matched those of her elder brother, which brought hopes of recovery, or alleviation at least, to the ill-fated girl.

But she dropped efforts and returned to Qingdao - in part due to the huge amount of money needed for the medical operation, and also because after agonizing rounds of chemotherapy, her body had weakened and her cascading hair was disappearing. She knew her days were numbered and not want to become an embarrassing burden on her family.

On April 16, she began to post on her Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, about her illness and sometimes deep thoughts about life, which provided a window into her inner world.

“I have just returned from the beach. When you think of something that you cannot let go, you may visit the intensive care units or graveyards where you can easily understand that you have got what you want. Asking for more, you will be greedy. Respect life and don’t struggle with it,” said one of the posts.

The 23-year-old girl was brought to the national spotlight when a high-profile Weibo user Notebook shared the touching story with their 2.8 million followers. Other users, including established singers and actors, crowded her page leaving messages of comfort and encouragement.