He Liling, who suffered from "Abnormal Frostbite", has now almost completely lost control of her body. Only her eyes, lips and neck are left on her body. She relies on her husband Li Tianqiu to take care of her daily life. Li Tianqiu always stayed by her side, always paying attention to her every move. His wife only needed a look, and Li Tianqiu understood what she needed.
This year marks the 15th year that He Liling has suffered from illness. Just 13 years ago, the doctor who treated her said, "This disease only has a survival period of 3 to 5 years." But over the years, under the careful care of Li Tianqiu, He Liling not only resisted the invasion of the disease, but also gained a happy family life. As sang in the song, because of love, everything looks like happiness.
Li Tianqiu and his wife He Liling. Photo by Shao Qiaoling, a reporter from Foshan Daily,
He feeds his wife one spoonful at a time, and feeds him for two hours each meal
Before his wife fell ill, Li Tianqiu had never heard of "Amyotrophic human disease".
In 2007, He Liling, who was 42 years old at the time, suddenly lost her voice for two to three seconds while teaching on the podium. She had not noticed any abnormality at that time. Two or three days later, she developed cold symptoms such as fever, sore throat and , so she went to see a Chinese medicine doctor, but the days passed day by day and her condition did not improve.
In July 2009, the students were all on summer vacation, so Li Tianqiu took his wife to the Department of Brain Diseases of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for treatment. After the doctor diagnosed her, his wife unfortunately suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or "amyotrophic human disease". Under normal circumstances, patients can only survive for 3-5 years. After hearing the doctor's words, tears burst out from his eyes. This was the first time they both heard about this disease, and they did not expect the condition to be so serious. After
, He Liling's condition deteriorated rapidly, most of her body was "frozen", and the muscles responsible for swallowing were also partially degenerated. She could not eat hard food and could only eat liquid food. Li Tianqiu carefully cooks porridge for his wife every day, then pours the porridge into a liquid state in the mixer, and feeds it to his wife with spoonfuls of spoonfuls. In 10 years, he broke three mixers.
"Her mouth can only be opened to the size of two peanuts, and she can only be fed bit by bit at a time. It takes two hours for a meal." Li Tianqiu said that his wife had to eat four meals a day, totaling about five kilograms of liquid food.
To ensure that the wife who can only eat liquid food can ensure the nutrition she consumes every day, Li Tianqiu has been very concerned about the ingredients for making porridge, and can even be said to be extremely "picky".
In Li Tianqiu's refrigerator and storage cabinet, there are more than 20 kinds of porridge ingredients such as black bean , soybeans, mung bean , black rice , poria cocos , yam , walnuts, lotus seeds, lily , tangerine peel, etc. Every day, he changes the ingredients to make porridge of different flavors for his wife to drink.
In addition to taking care of his wife's diet and daily life, Li Tianqiu is also particularly concerned about his wife's psychological state. "Before she was sick, she was cheerful and generous, acted decisively, and was a strong woman at work." Li Tianqiu said that after she got sick, her wife could not return to her beloved podium and could not take care of herself in life. The huge sense of gap brought by the disease and her confusion and concern about herself and her family's future once made her depressed, and she was even helpless to seek death. Looking at his wife's eyes full of despair and pain, Li Tianqiu made up his mind to help his wife get out of the haze in her heart.
In order to take good care of his wife, Li Tianqiu resolutely quit his job as a bus driver and took He Liling out for a walk and a view in his spare time to find a way to make her happy.
Before 2015, Li Tianqiu and He Liling had been living in old houses in the old city. Their home was on the 8th floor and there was no elevator. Li Tianqiu often carried his wife downstairs and drove her to nearby parks and scenic spots to relax.
2012 Sanshui held the first 50-kilometer hiking event. Li Tianqiu signed up immediately when he saw the news. Since then, he will take his wife to participate in the hiking activities every year. Along the way, he pushed his wife slowly in a wheelchair and received a lot of kind greetings and encouragement from passers-by.
He Liling's students often come to visit her when they learn that the teacher is ill. At the highest number of people, 19 student representatives came at one time. They also pulled He Liling's WeChat into their classmate group. The classmates often organized activities, and Li Tianqiu would show his wife the photos of the activity posted in the group. She would always smile when she saw the classmates happy.
He Liling's students came to visit the teacher. Photo provided by the interviewee
Year after year, Li Tianqiu went downstairs and went upstairs with his wife again and again. As his wife went out more and more times, she gradually walked out of the shadow in her heart, let go of the uneasiness in her heart, calmly accepted the fact that she was sick, and calmly welcomed the arrival of every day. "She can maintain a good mood and a good attitude, and her condition will be delayed a lot. I hope she can hold on for another ten years and wait until the day when her granddaughter grows up." Li Tianqiu said.
My wife likes to listen to songs. He always likes to play "Wife, Wife, I Love You"
In Li Tianqiu's living room, many paper-cut works of his daughter are placed. When He Liling was diagnosed with "Amyotrophic Symptom" that year, her daughter was taking the college entrance examination. The couple hid her daughter and asked her to take the exam with peace of mind. My daughter has always had excellent grades and finally successfully admitted to Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts . After graduation, my daughter gave up the postgraduate entrance examination just to make money as soon as possible and reduce the financial burden of her family.
Li Tianqiu's home is filled with many paper-cut works of his daughter. Photo by Shao Qiaoling, reporter of Foshan Daily,
With outstanding artistic skills, their daughter successfully entered the studio of Foshan paper-cut provincial intangible cultural heritage inheritor Rao Baolian . During the National Day in 2019, she entered the marriage hall. The wedding bouquets, bracelets, wedding candy bags, and background boards were all made by herself. "What you do is the best, and you can also save a lot of wedding expenses." Under the father's words and deeds, being pragmatic and frugal has also become his daughter's way of managing the family. Now, she goes home several times a month to bring her lively and active granddaughter to her parents, and the house is full of laughter and joy.
Every month, my daughter will take her granddaughter home to visit her parents. Photo provided by the interviewee
15 has been taking care of his sick wife for the whole day, making porridge for his wife in different ways, carrying his wife up and down the stairs, and taking his wife to various activities and parties. These are not the most touching part of Li Tianqiu.
Li Tianqiu seals and stores more than 20 different porridge raw materials at home. Photo by Foshan Daily reporter Shao Qiaoling
Although Li Tianqiu is busy with tedious care every day and night, he never forgets to create romance for his wife. He Liling likes jasmine flowers. In the spring of 2020, Li Tianqiu asked someone to buy more than a dozen jasmine seedlings, and pots arranged neatly on the balcony. flower seedlings bathed in the sunshine and grew up gradually. Pot after pot was filled with small white flowers, and the whole house was soaked in the refreshing fragrance of jasmine flowers. My wife sat in the living room, smelling the fragrance of flowers, and feeling happier.
He Liling likes to listen to music, so he plays music for his wife every day. The song he plays the most is "Wife, Wife, I Love You". Perhaps this is the best way to love. In my world, you are supreme. I don’t care about my love for you. Your health and happiness are my greatest happiness.
Li Tianqiu takes his wife to the flower street. Photo provided by the interviewee
"Now I just hope that her quality of life will be higher, and that she can do her best to take care of her so that she can be happy every day." Speaking of hope for the future, Li Tianqiu's simple words reveal moving delicacy and silent responsibility and responsibility as a husband. His hopes for the future are so simple, just as he has done over the past decade.The trivialities of daily life did not destroy his enthusiasm for life. His kindness, his optimism, and his love for his wife spread from every word and deed and reached the hearts of the people.
