When he has free time, Qiangqiang teaches his mother how to write. Qiangqiang says he looks forward more to being carried by his father. "Yesterday afternoon, because I am too heavy, it would be tiring for my mother to carry me." Whenever the weather is good, his mother carries him outdoors to bask in the sun and massages his feet.
Qiangqiang's "home" is built in an underground parking lot. His father is a parking attendant, and his mother works as a street cleaner nearby.
This year, winter in Fuzhou feels especially cold for Qiangqiang's parents. Last winter, their son only needed their support to walk; this year, no matter how hard he tries, he cannot stand on his own.
But Qiangqiang insists on going to school. From having his parents help him walk to school, to being carried to school, except for hospital visits, he hasn't missed a single day of class.
Yesterday at noon, after the dismissal bell rang, the students cheered and rushed out. Eleven-year-old Qiangqiang tidied up his schoolbag, waiting for his father to pick him up. "Sometimes, my mother comes to pick me up, depending on who has time," said Qiangqiang, sitting in the first row of the classroom, touching his schoolbag, and looking out the window.
Qiangqiang is a fifth-grade student at Zhongshan Primary School in Fuzhou. Due to progressive muscular dystrophy, he cannot walk freely like other children. For nearly a year now, he has relied on his parents to carry him to and from school.
When Qiangqiang was three or four years old, his parents noticed something unusual. "He would complain of sore legs even after walking a short distance, even on flat ground. By the time he was five, he started walking on tiptoes, with a protruding stomach, limping..." Qiangqiang's mother recalls her son's changes, tears welling up in her eyes.
Because they hadn’t had much education and didn’t have much money, it wasn’t until Qiangqiang was six that they brought him from Luoyuan to Fuzhou for a physical examination. At the Fujian Provincial Government Hospital, after Qiangqiang underwent his first check-up, the doctor directly asked Qiangqiang's parents how many children they had. That moment, the doctor’s words left Qiangqiang's parents stunned.
Afterward, his parents took Qiangqiang to all the major and minor hospitals in Fuzhou and even sought medical help in Guangzhou. "The doctors all told us there was no cure, but we didn’t want to give up," Qiangqiang's mother choked back tears.
Despite his serious illness, Qiangqiang remains exceptionally strong and optimistic. He insists on attending school.
Every day, his parents drop him off at the classroom and can only pick him up at noon and after school in the afternoon. Throughout the entire morning and afternoon at school, Qiangqiang cannot leave his seat even for a step. Because of long-term medication, Qiangqiang has gained some weight, and even his father struggles to carry him. Therefore, at school, he never wants to trouble teachers or classmates. "If I need to use the restroom, I have to wait for my dad or mom to come pick me up," Qiangqiang said, lowering his head. Once, he couldn't hold it in, wetting his pants during the second class in the morning. His father then took him home to change clothes, causing him to miss two classes. To minimize trips to the restroom, Qiangqiang rarely drinks water, and even the herbal medicine he must take, he asks his parents to boil it into a concentrated form.
Why go through such hardship and still have his parents carry him to school?
Qiangqiang says he wants to learn as much as possible while his hands and brain can still move and function. "My mom hasn't read any books, so I'm teaching her how to recognize characters," Qiangqiang proudly said. Now, he has already taught his mother how to write her own name. Every day, after returning to their home located in the corner of the underground parking lot, after finishing dinner and homework, Qiangqiang teaches his mother how to write. When teaching his mother, Qiangqiang takes on a teacher-like demeanor. There was once a conversation between them:
Qiangqiang: Mom, let me teach you how to write the three words 'happy fruit.' I love eating happy fruits.
Mom: Why are you happy when you eat happy fruits, but I’m not happy when I eat them?
Qiangqiang: You think about my illness all day, how could you be happy?
To make his mother happy, one day, while she was cooking, Qiangqiang, holding onto the bed and walls, moved several meters to surprise his mother by tapping her shoulder.
"In fact, just moving such a short distance is very difficult for him... I know how much effort it takes for him to move that far," his mother understood that her son was using every ounce of strength to comfort her. But now, no matter how hard Qiangqiang tries, he cannot create such surprises for his mother anymore. With calves thicker than his thighs, he needs to hold onto a table, endure pain, and spend one or two minutes just to stand up.
In June this year, after saving a bit of money, his persistent parents took Qiangqiang to the hospital again. However, the diagnosis from the hospital remained the same: progressive muscular dystrophy; tricuspid regurgitation.
Though the disease is merciless, there is love in the world. Yesterday afternoon, at Yong'an Street Gulou Special Art Palace, all the teachers and students of Zhongshan Primary School donated over 30,000 yuan and a wheelchair to Qiangqiang. A little girl named Shi Hongxiao, who has been classmates with Qiangqiang for five years, said she hopes Qiangqiang can walk on his own soon, to do exercises and play games with everyone.
Tomorrow, we will welcome the new year. Let us all hope that one day, the wish of little Shi Hongxiao can come true.
Relevant Links:
Progressive muscular dystrophy is a group of primary skeletal muscle diseases caused by genetic factors. Its main clinical manifestations include gradually worsening muscle atrophy, muscle weakness, and varying degrees of movement disorders.
By reporter Siqin Kou and correspondent Yong Zhang / text, Xing Liu / photos