For the medical staff at the People's Hospital of Peking University in Beijing, 49-year-old Ding Xiulan was their role model.

"Ding left the hope of life for others and kept the danger of death to herself," said Sun Ningling, director with the Department of Hypertension and vice-director with the Department of Cardiology in People's Hospital of Peking University.

Ding was one of Sun's closest colleagues as both were directors and they often came together for meetings.

On May 13, Ding died in Ditan Hospital after battling SARS for more than a month.

Ding was the first to die of SARS among the 93 medical staff of the People's Hospital who had been infected with the killer epidemic between April 2 and April 24.

On April 24, the People's Hospital closed down and medical staff were placed in quarantine for three weeks as the capital made efforts to stop the spread of SARS.

The People's Hospital, with a history of 85 years, is one of the best hospitals in Beijing. It receives more than 1 million patients annually.

According to Liu Xiaoyuan, a colleague of Ding Xiulan, April and May were usually slack months.

But there was a sudden increase of patients with fevers in early April this year.

In response, the hospital opened special SARS wards, and designated four head doctors to be in charge of treatment.

As the deputy director of the Emergency Department, Ding insisted that she should be the first person to inspect every patient with fever.

"She had contact with almost all suspected SARS cases at the hospital," said Liu.

In addition, Ding handled a great number of chores, such as trying to purchase protective suits, which were in great demand and short supply at that time.

"She was really tired those days. Usually she was very agile, but those days I noticed that she was always walking flat-footedly," said Liu.

On April 8 and 9, six nurses at the Emergency Department began to show SARS symptoms and were quickly confirmed as being infected with the virus.

On the night of April 9, Ding attended an emergency meeting and then began to examine the six infected nurses.

"She carefully checked the nurses, and told us to keep away, claiming that she could handle all the cases. At first these young nurses were very worried. What Ding did was a great comfort to them," said Liu.

Sun said: "No one knows who is carrying the virus so the danger of being infected is high."

Head nurse Xu Guoying recalled: "The next morning I found she looked extremely haggard. Whenever I think of her, I cannot help crying. She became ill trying to help those nurses."

A few days later, Ding was diagnosed as having been infected with SARS, and was among 30 infected medical staff to be transferred to Ditan Hospital on April 21 from the People's Hospital. They were taken care of by a team of 15 doctors and nurses from the People's Hospital, led by Sun.

Sun said Ding was among three patients whose conditions were the most serious prior to being transferred. They were the only people who needed to use special respirators.

Sun spent a week with Ding in the new ward of Ditan hospital where she noted Ding's brave, selfless and high spirits.

"Even though her condition was so serious, she thought more about other people than herself," Sun said.

Unlike other patients, she seldom called doctors even when she felt really bad and most of the time she endured the pain and discomforts by herself, said Sun.

One day, an infected nurse had problems using the breathing machine and kept crying. No one could comfort her.

Ding, who was receiving an infusion in the neighbouring ward, hobbled into the nurse's ward.

With great patience, Ding taught the nurse how to breathe using the respirator and talked intimately with her.

Ding had to hold her own drip bottle high above her shoulder as she talked as the hospital ran short of infusion stands.

The nurse calmed down. But Ding's condition took an unfavourable turn the next day.

To save her, three special city-wide consultations on her case were held.

But on May 12, Ding's condition deteriorated suddenly, and she died early the next morning.

Ding's colleagues will always remember her as one who was always smiling and a true lover of dancing and almost all kinds of sports. She also liked shopping and going to the beauty salon.

When she became infected with SARS, her husband was on a business trip outside Beijing, and her only daughter was studying at a university in Canada.

She insisted on not telling them about her illness in case they worried.

Her biggest hope was to travel in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with her husband after retirement.