Monday Motivations: The Story of Peng Shuilin

In life we keep complaining about what we don't have. Half the time we seem dissatisfied, though full-bodied and free to choose. Fat people say, "I want to be slim." Skinny people say, "I want to gain some weight." Poor people want to be rich and the rich are never satisfied with what they have.

Peng Shuilin is 78cms high. He was born in Hunan Province, China. In 1995, in Shenzhen, a freight truck sliced his body in half. His lower body and legs were beyond repair. Surgeons sewed up his torso. 

Peng Shuilin, 37, spent nearly two years in hospital in Shenzhen, southern China, undergoing a series of operations to re-route nearly every major organ or system inside his body. Peng kept exercising his arms, building up strength, washing his face and brushing his teeth. he surivived against all odds. Now Peng Shuilin has astounded doctors by learning to walk again after a decade.

Considering Peng's plight, doctors at the China Rehabilitation Research Centre in Beijing devised an ingeniuous way to allow him to walk on his own, creating a sophisticated egg cup-like casing to hold his body, with two bionic legs attached.

It took careful consideration, skilled measurement and technical expertise. Peng has been  walking the corridors of Beijing Rehabilitation Centre with the aid of his specifically adapted lets and a re-sized walking frame. RGO is a reciprocating gait orthosis, attached  to a prosthetic socket bucket. There is a cable attached to both legs so when one goes forward, the other goes backwards.

Rock to the side, add a bit of a twist and the leg without the weight on it advances, while the other one stays still, giving a highly efficient way of ambulation. Oh, so satisfying to 'walk' again after ten years with half a body!

Hospital vice-president Lin Liu said: "We've just given him a checkup; he is fitter than most men his age." Peng Shuilin has opened his own bargain supermarket, called Half Man-Half price Store. The inspirational 37-year old has become a businessman and is used as a role model for other amputees.

At just 2ft 7ins tall, he moves around in a wheelchair giving lectures on recovery from disability. His attitude is amazing; he doesn't complain. "He had good care, but his secret is cheerfulness. Nothing gets him down."

You have a whole body. You have feet. Now you have met a man who has no feet. His life is a feat of endurance, a triumph of the human spirit in overcoming extreme adversity. Next time you want to complain about something trivial, don't. Remember Peng Shuilin instead, and thank God for what you do have and for all those small blessings you never think about.


Your troubles are not there to defeat you, they're there to increase you!


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