With the help of Gao Jingwen, her husband did physical rehabilitation exercises every day. Reporter Lu Jinxing. On October 12, 2007, Zhou Chuanqi, then 59 years old, suddenly suffered from cerebral hemorrhage. Although his life was saved, his right side of the body was completely paralyzed. According to the doctor's statement, he would have to spend the rest of his life in bed or in a wheelchair. With the sudden collapse of the family's mainstay, their son lost his job, and the fiancée left, all these changes fell on the shoulders of Zhou Chuanqi's wife, Gao Jingwen. "You are paralyzed, I will take care of you! The family has collapsed, I will support it! Miracles will definitely happen!" Gao Jingwen, over 60 years old, used her self-invented three-step recovery method of massage, dietary therapy, and exercise, which made Zhou Chuanqi stand up again. At No. 161, Nan Kou Road, Taipingzhen Community, Shibei District, the touching story of mutual support between Gao Jingwen and Zhou Chuanqi has become a well-known tale. Coinciding with the city's Respect for the Elderly Month, the reporter delved into the lives of this elderly couple, hoping that their brave fight against the disease would move and encourage more people.
The sky fell when the husband suffered from cerebral hemorrhage and lay in bed. Gao Jingwen's husband is named Zhou Chuanqi, born in 1948. They met in 1966 while supporting the border area in Qinghai, and after six or seven years of dating, they eventually became a couple, returned to Qingdao, and got married. After retirement, both had fixed pensions, and their son also had a good job, leading a peaceful and happy family life.
However, misfortune visited this ordinary family. On October 9, 2007, Zhou Chuanqi came home saying he felt unwell, thinking it was just a cold, he stayed in bed for three days. On the morning of the 12th, feeling better, he went downstairs to chop wood but couldn't continue after chopping a few pieces. He then went to Haici Hospital alone for treatment. "In the afternoon, the doctor called me and said he had a brain bleed," Gao Jingwen said. That day, her husband was hospitalized due to cerebral hemorrhage. On October 16, the doctors performed surgery on him. Although his life was temporarily saved, the right side of his body lost sensation, and he remained unconscious. Around December 20, 2007, the family transferred him to the Municipal Hospital. After one month of treatment, although Zhou Chuanqi survived, his entire right side was paralyzed, and the doctor said he could only sit in a wheelchair. Moreover, after the surgery, her husband had no consciousness at all and couldn’t recognize them.
Desperation struck as the son lost his job and returned home. Gao Jingwen told reporters that her husband’s paralysis brought about a "devastating blow" to the whole family. Just the first surgery cost six or seven ten thousand yuan, and her monthly pension was only over 800 yuan, her husband’s only 500 yuan, leaving the entire family worried about the huge medical expenses. "Fortunately, I had been trading stocks for five or six years and had savings of over 200,000 yuan; otherwise, there would be no way to save him," Gao Jingwen said. But soon, by around June 2008, all their savings were spent treating her husband. "Because of my father's illness, my son returned from Beijing and stayed for six months. Due to being away from the company for too long, he lost his job," Gao Jingwen informed us. After being dismissed, his girlfriend also left him. With all savings gone, and her son unemployed without income, the entire family found themselves in a desperate situation, relying solely on their meager pensions to survive.
"At that time, I really felt like I couldn't go on living, life was like hell," watching her husband remain paralyzed in bed, Gao Jingwen didn't know how she could move forward.
A miracle happened: after four years of effort, her husband could move again. Although the doctors had already declared that her husband would forever be confined to the bed or wheelchair, Gao Jingwen did not give up. She believed she could surely bring her husband back to clarity. Under Gao Jingwen's careful care, in January 2008, Zhou Chuanqi, who had escaped the danger of death, began to regain consciousness, filling Gao Jingwen with hope. In February 2008, with little savings left, Gao Jingwen and her son took their husband home. Every day, they massaged him, relaxed his muscles, etc., under her meticulous care, in the same month after discharge, Zhou Chuanqi stood up, and his right hand began to move.
The miracles continued to happen in Zhou Chuanqi's case. Starting in June 2008, Zhou Chuanqi began to shuffle his steps. In 2010, he could feed himself. By early 2011, Zhou Chuanqi could walk from home to Yanchi Road unassisted, a short distance of 200 meters that Zhou Chuanqi walked for nearly four years. Currently, Zhou Chuanqi's movements with his right hand and leg are more flexible, and now he can even control the TV remote control by himself. Gao Jingwen said that her husband often goes downstairs to stroll on the road nearby, and wherever her husband wants to go near their house is no problem.
Secrets: Dietary therapy, massage, and exercise helped him stand up again. Talking about why Zhou Chuanqi could stand up again, Gao Jingwen said the first reason was the proper diet adjustment. "The diet is mainly light, seasonal vegetables are not lacking, but meat must be eaten sparingly." Besides being light, porridge is also an essential food every day. In Gao Jingwen's home, the reporter saw various tools she used to help Zhou Chuanqi recover, including small cloth hammers, homemade dumbbells, spindles, and ropes used for stretching legs. "These tools are common in daily life, like the spindle, which can be used for massaging his back, and the small cloth hammer is used to tap the joints on his body," Gao Jingwen explained. Massage is a skill Gao Jingwen learned herself over the past four years. "First, I studied books, then experimented with acupoints on myself." Gao Jingwen said that massage must control the "degree", depending on her husband's mood, weather, and many other factors to control the time and strength.
During the interview, it was time for Zhou Chuanqi to exercise. We saw Zhou Chuanqi slowly moving to the bed, lifting a wooden stick with a homemade dumbbell attached. Then he lifted his legs and slightly raised his buttocks. "This is the action I designed for him, which can exercise his shoulders, arms, back, and waist simultaneously," Gao Jingwen said. After completing this set of exercises, her husband would still need to climb 600 steps to continue exercising.
Reporters Li Bing and intern Lin Guojian contributed to this article.