Text/Li Zhiyao
Autumn is here, the chrysanthemums are blooming, the moon is getting rounder day by day, and the Mid-Autumn Festival festival that Duan Meifen (screen name: Dandelion) is looking forward to is coming soon. She and her husband Ping (pseudonym) prepared a batch of Mid-Autumn mooncakes in advance. In addition to selling them at stalls, they also sold them online on , Douyin, and other online platforms, hoping to make some money to support their family before the festival.
(TikTok screenshot of Duan Meifen and her son setting up a street stall to sell mooncakes)
The contentment in front of me
In our loving Zhuyuan Literature Group, everyone rushed to order Duan Meifen’s mooncakes and her "Life" written with her incomplete elbows spark". I am no exception and want to buy her more mooncakes to show my support. I heard that she was sick, so I rushed to the hospital to see her. It turned out that she had recently suffered a fracture in her right ankle due to an accidental car accident and had to be hospitalized again for treatment.
Being hospitalized is normal for her. She spends half of her time in the hospital, 365 days a year, but this accident happened before the Mid-Autumn Festival, which made her anxious. She is the "giant panda" and the "pot" of the family. Regardless of whether she is hospitalized or not, the "eldest child" in the family will follow her around, even though her husband is her "culprit".
Without the "pan", Duan Meifen could not move forward. In the hospital, Ping pushed her in and out of the ward in a wheelchair every day; he picked her up from the wheelchair and put her on the hospital bed every day, and cooperated with the medical staff to perform various treatments; after the treatment, he picked her up in the wheelchair and pushed her back to the hospital. Home. This was his daily routine of taking care of her, and it was also the routine she was used to.
(The back view of Duan Meifen’s husband pushing her to the hospital for treatment)
Duan Meifen’s 6-year-old son Dong (pseudonym) is sensible and cute, neither noisy nor noisy. He not only takes the initiative to serve tea and water, but also imitates his father to take care of his mother. , cooperate with dad to hold the wheelchair, and help mom pull the quilt. After pulling up the quilt, he would cover his mother's cold elbows with both hands and ask her if it hurt. At this time, my heart ached inexplicably, and the child with delicate features and pure heart made me cry. I was deeply moved by the strength of their family and couldn't bear to break this tender scene.
Outside the window of the ward, the leaves blown by the autumn wind sometimes fell in front of the window, sometimes flying in the air. Duan Meifen said helplessly at the scene, sometimes, she is like a leaf, not knowing where it will drift to the next second? I said, you are more like a dandelion, a flying flower. Your pan is the wind. Wherever it is, you will be there, setting up camp and taking root. She nodded knowingly and started talking. Because we have a common literary complex, we got very close to each other.
(Duan Meifen relies on her husband and a wheelchair to travel)
Tragic experience
Mentioning the car accident, Duan Meifen said frankly that she would not be able to avoid this sensitive word in her life. Compared with the unexpected accident that happened to her 18 years ago, this time it was just Click "Scrape". Now, when talking about the car accident in 2004 that she will never forget and ruthlessly changed her destiny, although it is no longer so heavy, the memory is painful and spreads with it.
Duan Meifen was born in an ordinary farmer's family in Xuanwei City, Yunnan Province in 1984. After graduating from technical secondary school, she was said to be "a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers". In her youth, she had already learned to start a company in Kunming and make money with her own solid steps. , with hard-working hands creating a better future, with great ambition.
However, on January 9, 2004, a sudden car accident crushed all her beautiful dreams. Because the taxi driver acted improperly, he threw her out at the corner of the road. She was thrown into the ravine, and the car followed closely on top of her. After emergency rescue, Duan Meifen was out of danger, but it took half a year for her to wake up from a near-vegetative state. Due to complete high paraplegia below the shoulders, severe damage to her central nervous system, her hands and feet completely lost function, and she could not even do simple eating and dressing. No, I rely on family members to help me eat, drink, and drink.During these gloomy days when she was unable to seek death and was unable to survive, except for Duan Meifen's ability to move and think, everything else made her unable to control herself. Life was worse than death.
(Duan Meifen’s children accompanied her in the hospital for treatment)
It’s a miracle that she survived!
God closed all the doors for Duan Meifen, but also opened a window for her. Under the careful care of her family, Duan Meifen's body recovered a little bit of consciousness, and her head and shoulder joints could move slightly.
What she has to do now is to find that window and create the miracle of life again!
The power of living
Duan Meifen has been fond of literature since she was a child. She often recalls reading books while feeding pigs when she was a child. She used her pocket money to buy books. During her bored recovery, words and books naturally became her life-saving medicine. Since becoming a wheelchair user, Duan Meifen has begun to learn to use computers and record every detail of her life in words. She has slowly forgotten her physical and mental pain and found an outlet to vent her emotions. The Xuanwei City Disabled Persons' Federation helped her apply for the disability certificate and recommended her to use a trackball mouse. This is a mouse specially designed for people with physical disabilities that can be used with just a gentle scroll. Although she has no fingers, she can use her wrist to move her remaining elbow joint to practice typing. In just a few months, she typed out millions of words with the joint of her unconscious right hand, and also learned to animate the things she liked. Every subtle change witnessed her fight against fate!
She was often glad that she was only disabled but not disabled. She was even more glad that she had the company of words, which enabled her to open the window God left for her. She is no longer imprisoned by a wheelchair. In the palace of literature, she can immerse and fly as much as she wants. She submitted articles everywhere and won many awards. She wrote works such as "A Beauty Against the Current" and "Spark of Life", and was awarded the title of "Yunnan Province Self-improvement Model". The micro-film "The Same Sky" based on her was selected into the Yunnan Province Hundreds of short films. After her marriage, she also established Weiye Wings Home (referred to as "Wings of Love"), a public welfare organization to serve the disabled. On this stage, Duan Meifen gradually found her lost self and found the value of living. A group of lost disabled people looked for her light and found their way home. The road to life became brighter and brighter as they walked.
(Duan Meifen wrote "Spark of Life" with her incomplete elbows)
Duan Meifen also found the best reliance when she was trying to find the window God opened for her. Many years ago, Duan Meifen rented a house outside the hospital for rehabilitation training. She met Ping, who lived under the same roof. Ping was attracted by her spirit of being disabled and strong-willed, and cared about her food, clothing, housing and transportation like a family member. The two secretly fell in love, but Not favored by the outside world, even her family members were opposed to it. Duan Meifen also often thinks: What do people want for themselves? He flatly rejected Ping's pursuit and deleted all contact with him. However, Ping never left him, still paying attention to her and taking care of her. Gradually, she could no longer leave him. In 2014, Duan Meifen decided to hold hands with him and spend the rest of their lives together. On May 20, they tied the knot.
"Hold your hand and grow old together", "I will take care of you for the rest of my life"! This is not only a promise, but also a lifelong bet, which needs to be fulfilled and proven by actions. For Duan Meifen, a high-level paraplegic, getting married and having children is something that is only possible. The stubborn Duan Meifen refused to accept her fate, and she bravely said: Only those who love to fight will win! Only by letting go and working hard can you create headwind opportunities and achieve the best results. After marriage, she risked her life for love, endured a lot of pressure, and passed through several ghosts. Finally, in December 2015, she took the risk to give birth to a healthy baby, completing an "extremely high-risk" life event, and her son's birth was repaired. The incompleteness of her life. When we talked about children, her smile stretched especially brightly, and she happily shared with me that a woman with children is the happiest woman in the world! I think so.
is strong as a mother.As the child grows up, the pressure from education, life and other aspects increases. Because her husband has to take care of her all the time, he cannot go out to work to make money. In order to take care of her elderly parents-in-law, she had to leave her hometown of Xuanwei and live in Malong. Here, she was unfamiliar with the place and had no one to help her. In order to support the family and set an example for her children, she never regarded herself as a disabled person. She encouraged herself countless times: I married love and I married life. Life has to go on. I have no reason to lie down, let alone beg. I want to take care of the outside world and let my husband take care of the house. I want to share the burden for him, live a good life, and give my son a warm home!
(The well-known Qujing writer Ye Qianyun praised Duan Meifen’s spirit of self-reliance and self-reliance)
The best education is to teach by words and deeds. Duan Meifen relies on the mobility of her small wheelchair and her husband's dedication without regrets. She picks up chicken feathers everywhere and runs around trying various entrepreneurships, starting micro-business, starting a company, live streaming, etc., trying every means to make money to support her family. , never bow to fate.
"Time is a very good word, it can replace all the words that are hard to describe. Wherever you work hard, there will be gains." Through Duan Meifen’s TikTok, we can understand many philosophies of life from her plain words. Her self-improvement, tenacity and positivity in facing life are obvious to all. Along the way, Duan Meifen received care and help from the provincial and municipal Disabled Persons' Federations, and all walks of life also extended a helping hand to sell her books for charity and promote her spirit. The couple supported each other, shared the joys and sorrows, and measured and moved closer to their dreams step by step, playing an unyielding movement for ordinary life.
"Ice Coffee" and "Dandelion" are Duan Meifen's pen names and online names. I asked her which name she preferred? She said without hesitation: "I prefer the strength of dandelions. Whether they are on barren land or steep mountain walls, dandelions can take root and sprout and bloom into small flowers. The seeds may seem to be swaying in the wind, but when they fall to the ground, there is hope!"
Duan Meifen's Isn't "Wheelchair Life" a touching portrayal of the spirit of Dandelion! While I cheer for her, I also hope that her spark of life will be like a beautiful and unique dandelion, which can be casual and peaceful, but also bloom tenaciously!
As I was writing, the increasingly bright moon slowly rose from the horizon with the afterglow of the setting sun. At this time, Duan Meifen must be leaning on the fence under the moonlight, temporarily forgetting the worries of livelihood, and enjoying this beautiful moonlit night with her relatives.
(The author of this article is face to face with Duan Meifen)
