Adversity only makes this couple love each other deeper and smile more beautifully.
Reported by Zhou Bin, Interns Cheng Bingbing, Dong Shanshan, and Guo Yifan.
Reading Prompt:
Eight years ago, an accident left the wife almost completely unable to take care of herself. Losing sensation in her lower limbs and urinary function, she might be permanently paralyzed. Faced with this sudden disaster, her husband, an engineer, took care of her like a baby. Massage, bowel movement assistance, washing urine-soaked pants - for over 2000 days and nights, the husband's efforts finally brought about a "miracle."
[The Accident]:
She survived but might be paralyzed.
At 63, Chen Ruilian sat on a chair holding a walker. When the journalist said they wanted to take a photo of her, she stood up with the support of the handrail, full of energy like a child. Her husband, Chen Yinhai, chuckled.
On the morning of April 21st, in a small courtyard filled with fresh vegetables and fruits in Weishi County, Kaifeng City, the reporter visited this happy elderly couple. No one could imagine the disasters and pains they had gone through in the past eight years.
Chen Yinhai is an electrical engineer at the Weishi County Power Supply Bureau. On August 17th, 2003, Chen Yinhai and his wife Chen Ruilian took a long-distance bus to Wuyang High School in Luohe for a class reunion. The bus suddenly jolted violently, causing Chen Ruilian sitting in the back row to leap into the air and hit her head hard on the top of the compartment. When her body fell onto the seat, she felt as if she had been electrocuted, with numbness all over her body. Afterwards, she lost all sensation in her lower body.
In the First People's Hospital of Luohe, after more than 20 hours of emergency treatment, the wife's life was saved, but the following news stunned the entire family: Chen Ruilian suffered from a lumbar compression fracture - a disease that is extremely difficult to treat and recover from, and there was a high possibility that she would be paralyzed in her lower body for life.
[Commitment]:
He helped his wife defecate and massaged her every half hour.
After the first surgery, Chen Ruilian stayed in the First People's Hospital of Luohe for nearly three months.
To prevent bedsores, Chen Yinhai often turned her over, starting with every two hours; to prevent the muscle atrophy in her legs which couldn't move, he gave her a massage every half hour. He also bought books to learn massage techniques himself, checking his wife's body regularly every day.
"My father set a good example for my sister and me. Whenever he went to the hospital, it was like a deflated balloon at home, and my father often encouraged our whole family," said Chen Yinhai's son, Chen Liming.
"One day I found that her feet were burned with several blisters, but she didn't feel anything. My heart broke then." To make his wife suffer less, Chen Yinhai taught his children the massage methods he had figured out, instructing them to strictly follow his methods to take care of Chen Ruilian.
After Chen Ruilian became ill, she lost normal excretory function, and Chen Yinhai personally helped his wife defecate. "My old man has done so much hard work without ever complaining. He deserves better..." Speaking of this matter, Chen Ruilian choked up. Chen Yinhai smiled silently beside her, staring at her with deep affection.
"If my mother can be where she is now, it's because of my father's care," said Chen Huaming, the daughter, smiling at her mother's rosy face.
After being hospitalized in Luohe for three months, Chen Ruilian returned home.
"After returning home, seeing my old man who had lost nearly 20 kilograms taking care of me, and no matter how late, my son and daughter always came back to see me, I felt very guilty, feeling that I had dragged down the whole family," Chen Ruilian said. Therefore, she often secretly cried. Over time, she, who originally suffered from keratitis, developed acute glaucoma. Chen Yinhai quickly arranged for his wife to have glaucoma surgery.
Chen Ruilian often did not defecate for a week, making metabolism almost impossible. For this, Chen Yinhai specially consulted experts at the hospital and decided to perform a stoma surgery on his wife, inserting a tube in her abdomen to urinate regularly through the tube, but the problem of defecation remained unresolved. Chen Yinhai still insisted on helping his wife defecate regularly.
Two years later, during a hospital review, doctors diagnosed Chen Ruilian with bladder stones, and she had to undergo another surgery. The physical and psychological pain had already overwhelmed Chen Ruilian. "A few days after we got home, I found a pair of scissors under my mother's pillow. Thinking about it now still scares me," the son said tearfully.
"Since this incident, my father instructed us to tell our mother more jokes and stories about life and work when we go home, to cheer her up," the daughter laughed. "This trick of my father's actually worked, and my mother's mood improved a lot."
[Miracle]:
She took her first step, now she can dress and eat on her own.
Chen Yinhai said, "Other people's conditions improve daily, but my wife's condition improves yearly, with only a little progress each year."
Chen Yinhai specially invited Japanese experts through the hospital to seriously study how to conduct rehabilitation training. Day and night, he conducted rehabilitation training for his wife, taking her out for relaxation during the day and massaging her at night, keeping her muscles in constant motion.
Finally, the efforts paid off. Three years ago, one day, Chen Ruilian told her husband that she wanted to try standing up and walking a few steps. Chen Yinhai and his son supported her arms and slowly helped her stand up. When she took her first step, both Chen Yinhai and his son, these two men, had tears in their eyes.
One morning two years ago, Chen Yinhai found a bit of moisture on his wife's bed and realized that she had urinated, though only a little bit, but this made the whole family excited for half a day.
Afterwards, Chen Ruilian often wet her pants, and in the cold winter, Chen Yinhai often washed her pants more than twenty times a day. "I can't let him get sick from taking care of me, so I cut open the crotch of the pants, which makes it a little more convenient. If it's embarrassing, then so be it." From then on, Chen Ruilian wore "open-crotch pants" like a child.
After nearly eight years of effort, Chen Ruilian can now basically take care of her own bowel and bladder needs. The tube that was inserted into her abdomen a year ago to help with urination has also been removed.
Nowadays, with the help of a walker, Chen Ruilian exercises five to six hours every day, and she can dress and eat by herself. "Look, I dressed myself," Chen Ruilian proudly showed the reporter her clothes.
When the attending doctor who performed the surgery on Chen Ruilian learned that she could now take care of herself semi-independently, he was surprised and said, "That's not easy. In cases like this, if it weren't for the meticulous care of family members, it absolutely wouldn't be possible, and it can be considered a miracle."
Interview Note:
The entire interview process was not as melancholy and sad as we imagined, instead, we saw an optimistic and wise elder and a happy, strong family.
Speaking of her husband, Chen Yinhai, Chen Ruilian's face always showed a satisfied and happy smile. "Before, he never did anything at home, but since I got sick, he voluntarily let me command him and teach him how to cook, steam buns, stir-fry dishes, and make dumplings. At first, he didn't do well, but gradually, he met my taste. Now, whatever I want to eat, he will make it for me, which is really hard for someone who used to know nothing." I could feel the happiness and satisfaction in her heart.
The entire interview process was smooth and natural, without any pretense or sensationalism, just sincere feelings and an optimistic attitude. Speaking of his wife's accident, Chen Yinhai said, "I think this is a test given to us by life, an evaluation of your willpower and quality. Do well on this question, and your life will be 'excellent,' otherwise, your grade will be 'failing.'" (Editor: SN026)
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