Sun Xiaoming, 35, had never been aboard an aircraft until being loaded into a medical helicopter on March 26.
今年35岁的孙晓明从来没有坐过飞机，直到在3月26日那天乘坐了医疗直升机。
The air ambulance transported Sun, who had been in a coma for five days, to the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, and the noise of the chopper was so loud that patients and their relatives came out to watch it land.
▲ The air ambulance carrying Sun Xiaoming prepares to land at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing on March 26.
3月26日，载着孙晓明的医疗直升机准备降落在北京中日医院。
If Sun had been transported to Beijing from his home in Raoyang county of Hengshui, Hebei province, via an ambulance instead of a helicopter, it would have taken at least three hours to cover the distance of more than 250 kilometers. However, with the medical helicopter, the trip took only around 40 minutes.
▲ Medical workers transfer Sun Xiaoming to receive emergency treatment at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing on March 26.
3月26日，医务人员对转运昏迷5天的孙晓明进行紧急抢救治疗。
Last winter, Sun started to have difficulty breathing but didn't think twice about it. However, his symptoms worsened and, in the week before flying to Beijing for medical treatment, he was treated at a local hospital. But Sun had a high fever and fell into a coma.
▲ Doctor Lin Fan disinfects Sun Xiaoming before operating him at the hospital on May 22.
5月22日，外科医生林凡在手术前对孙晓明进行身体消毒。
"I am usually busy at work and often stay up late. And I also like drinking and smoking," Sun says. "Maybe the unhealthy eating and living habits made me fatter and fatter."
At China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Sun underwent two major operations, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and heart valve replacement. He spent more than 80 days at the hospital and lost about 60 kilograms - down from 230.
▲ Liu Peng, vice-president of China-Japan Friendship Hospital, performs the operation on May 22.
5月22日，中日医院副院长刘鹏在为孙晓明做心脏瓣膜手术。
"Since we had to perform his surgery while preventing him from severe infection and high fever, the time saved by the helicopter-based medical evacuation mattered a lot," says Liu Peng, the hospital's vice-president.
▲ Sun Xiaoming (left) and his wife Wang Juan (center) talk with Wang Chen, president of China-Japan Friendship Hospital，on June 14.
6月14日，中日医院院长王辰（右）看望即将出院的孙晓明夫妇。
With the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, air rescue has emerged as part of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development plan. Though the service in China is in early stages of development, it has had rapid development.
