With the help of Gao Jingwen, her husband did physical rehabilitation exercises every day. Reporter Lu Jinxiang. On October 12, 2007, Zhou Chuanqi, then 59 years old, suddenly suffered from cerebral hemorrhage. Although his life was saved, the right side of his body was completely paralyzed. According to the doctor's statement, he would spend the rest of his life on the bed and in a wheelchair. With the sudden collapse of the mainstay of the family, their son losing his job, and the fiancée leaving, all these changes fell heavily on the shoulders of Zhou Chuanqi's wife, Gao Jingwen. "You are paralyzed, but I will support you! The family has collapsed, but I will uphold it! Miracles will definitely happen!" Over 60-year-old Gao Jingwen 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 in Taiping Town Community, Shibei District, the story of mutual affection and overcoming difficulties between Gao Jingwen and Zhou Chuanqi has become a well-known tale. During the city’s elderly respect month, the reporter delves into the lives of this elderly couple, hoping that their brave fight against the disease can move and encourage more people.
The sky fell, the husband lay in bed due to cerebral hemorrhage. Gao Jingwen's husband is named Zhou Chuanqi, born in 1948. They met in Qinghai during the border support in 1966, and after six or seven years of dating, they finally became a couple and returned to Qingdao to get 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 didn't feel well, thinking it was just a cold, and stayed in bed for three days. On the morning of the 12th, feeling better, Zhou Chuanqi went downstairs to chop wood, but unexpectedly, he couldn’t hold out after chopping only a few pieces. Subsequently, he went to Haici Hospital alone. "In the afternoon, the doctor called me, saying he had a brain hemorrhage." Gao Jingwen said that day her husband was hospitalized due to cerebral hemorrhage. On October 16, the doctor performed surgery on Zhou Chuanqi. Although his life was temporarily saved, the right half of his body lost sensation, and he remained unconscious. Around December 20, 2007, the family transferred Zhou Chuanqi to the Municipal Hospital. After one month of treatment, Zhou Chuanqi survived, but the right side of his body was completely paralyzed, and the doctor said he could only sit in a wheelchair. Moreover, after the surgery, her husband had no consciousness at all and could not recognize them.
Desperation set in as the son lost his job and returned home. Gao Jingwen told the reporter that her husband's paralysis brought "destructive blows" to the entire family. After her husband fell ill, the first surgery alone cost six or seven ten thousand yuan, while her monthly pension was only over 800 yuan, and her husband's was only 500 yuan, making the huge surgical costs a worry for the whole family. "Fortunately, I have 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. However, by around June 2008, all their savings were spent on 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 told the reporter. After being dismissed by the company, his girlfriend also left him. All savings gone, with no income since his son lost his job, the entire family fell into dire straits, relying solely on meager pensions to survive.
"At that time, I really felt like I couldn't go on living anymore; life was like hell," watching her husband lying paralyzed in bed, Gao Jingwen didn't know how she should continue.
A miracle appeared, and after four years of effort, her husband could move again. Although the doctors had already sentenced her husband to forever stay in bed or a wheelchair, Gao Jingwen did not give up. She believed she could certainly make her husband regain consciousness. Under Gao Jingwen's meticulous care, in January 2008, Zhou Chuanqi began to regain consciousness after escaping life-threatening danger, filling Gao Jingwen's heart with hope. In February 2008, with little savings left, Gao Jingwen and her son took her husband home. Every day, she gave him massages, relaxed his muscles, etc., and under her careful care, in the same month after discharge, Zhou Chuanqi stood up, and his right hand started to move.
The miracles happening to Zhou Chuanqi continued. Starting in June 2008, Zhou Chuanqi could start moving step by step, in 2010, Zhou Chuanqi could eat by himself, and in early 2011, Zhou Chuanqi could walk from home to Yanji Road without anyone supporting him, a short distance of 200 meters, which Zhou Chuanqi walked for nearly four years. Currently, the movement of Zhou Chuanqi's right hand and right leg is more flexible, and now he can even control the TV remote control by himself. Gao Jingwen said that now her husband often goes downstairs to stroll on the road, and wherever her husband wants to go near their house is no problem.
Secret: Dietary therapy, massage, and exercise let him stand up again. Talking about why Zhou Chuanqi could stand up again, Gao Jingwen said the first reason was 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 a daily essential food. In Gao Jingwen's home, the reporter saw various tools she used to help Zhou Chuanqi recover, such as small cloth hammers, homemade dumbbells, spindles, and ropes for stretching legs. "These tools are common in daily life. For example, a spindle can be used for back massage, and the small cloth hammer can be used to tap joints on the body." Massage is a skill that Gao Jingwen learned herself over four years. "First, I learned from books, then experimented with acupoints on myself," Gao Jingwen said that massage must control the "degree", controlling the time and strength based on her husband's mood, weather, and many other factors.
During the interview, it was time for Zhou Chuanqi to exercise. Seen slowly moving to the bed, Zhou Chuanqi lifted a wooden stick hanging with homemade dumbbells. Then he raised his leg and slightly lifted 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 climb 600 steps to continue exercising.
Reporters Li Bing and intern Lin Guojian.