Zhu Youfang, who used to enthusiastically disseminate knowledge on the podium, now had to interrupt several times when she spoke a complete sentence - the words were not clear, the volume could not be controlled, and she had to use all her strength to repeat each sentence several times to let the people around her understand her meaning. She was gradually losing control of her body.
In 2015, Zhu Youfang, a teacher at Shangluo School in ChenGui Town, Daye City, Hubei Province, received widespread attention for a photo of him pulling a hemp rope to class, and was called "the most beautiful rope pulling teacher". At that time, she had been diagnosed with "spinocerebellar ataxia" for two years, her legs were weak and unstable, she relied on a hemp rope hanging on the blackboard, pulled the rope with her left hand to keep her body standing, and wrote books and lectures with her right hand. In this state, Zhu Youfang persisted for three years, until the arm strength gradually disappeared.
Now ill for nearly 10 years, the aggravation of the disease made her have to leave the three-foot podium, and her husband Huang Heming also quit his job as a physical education teacher to take care of her full-time, and the family's income was meager. In addition to the gradual loss of strength in her body, Zhu Youfang was also invaded by pain all night and had difficulty sleeping.
"I don't have the luxury of curing her illness, I just hope she can live less painfully." Huang Heming told the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) that Zhu Youfang has become weaker and weaker this winter, and hopes that a specialized hospital can provide her with free treatment for her.
Zhu Youfang was called "the most beautiful rope teacher" in 2015 for pulling a hemp rope to class.
Plagued by illness, a hemp rope held on to the three-foot podium
Behind the title of "the most beautiful rope teacher" is an experience that makes Zhu Youfang feel like she is in a nightmare.
In March 2012, an accidental fall during class made Zhu Youfang feel an abnormality in her body for the first time. But at that time, the teaching task was heavy and did not go to check in time. "There is too much shortage of teachers in the school, and if you go to the examination, you will be hospitalized for a period of time, which will definitely delay the children's homework, and I want to wait and see." Zhu Youfang said.
It dragged on to 2013. In the case of increasing weakness in her right leg and frequent falls, Zhu Youfang had to go to Wuhan Zhongnan Hospital for examination, and was soon diagnosed with "spinocerebellar ataxia".
Huang Heming, her husband, who is also a physical education teacher at Shangluo School, is still a little choked when talking about this disease, because his father-in-law, Zhu Youfang's father, suffers from the same disease, and he has seen his father-in-law struggle with the disease and die after 9 years of bedridden paralysis.
Spinocerebellar ataxia is a rare disease, similar to "frostbite", in that as the cerebellum atrophies, the patient's bodily functions are completely lost until death. There is currently no cure for the disease.
After the diagnosis, Zhu Youfang's right leg began to become more and more uncontrollable, and she continued to teach without the school's leaders and students. Her family had advised her to leave her job for rehabilitation treatment, but she couldn't make up her mind when she thought of the students in her class.
Another thing that made her unable to make up her mind was the figure of her father in her mind. Zhu Youfang's father was a rural teacher who taught for more than thirty years and was a principal for twenty years. In his fifties, his father suffered from the same disease as Zhu Youfang. When his father first fell ill, Zhu Youfang persuaded him to go home and rest, but the stubborn old man categorically refused, "He said that if he lived one day, he would teach a day's worth of books, and I still remember this sentence."
Zhu Youfang had watched her father's illness become more and more serious, but she still insisted on teaching. Every morning, the mother helped my father to go to school, and in the evening, I picked her up again, just one kilometer away, and the two old men had to walk for more than an hour with each other. Despite this, my father did not leave the three-foot podium before he was paralyzed and bedridden.
Her father's experience had made Zhu Youfang very distressed, and more than twenty years later, the same choice was placed in front of her, and she made the same decision as her father, "As long as she can teach for a day, she will continue to teach."
In order to take care of Zhu Youfang, the school transferred her to a low-rise office and allowed her to sit and teach, "the students are very sensible, listening more seriously than before." But despite this, Zhu Youfang found that when writing the board book, it was still difficult for her gradually weak legs to control balance.
Seeing his wife holding up her shaky body to write a board book, Huang Heming was uncomfortable outside the window. He wanted to make a booster for his wife that he could borrow, so he went home and sawed off a steel bar, nailed it to the wall on the blackboard, and found a thick hemp rope to tie to the steel bar, so that a special set of "auxiliary props" appeared in the classroom of Shangluo School.
During the class, Zhu Youfang pulled the hemp rope with her left hand, pulled up her slender body with force, and wrote a board book on the blackboard with her right hand. In order to avoid going to the bathroom, Zhu Youfang tried not to drink water, and the lecture was dry and dry, and she only took a small sip.
Seeing Zhu Youfang's class, the school leaders repeatedly advised her to go home to recuperate, and promised that the salary and benefits would be the same, but Zhu Youfang refused, "I think I can still hold on, and if I can continue to teach, I will continue to teach."
In this way, with a hemp rope, Zhu Youfang continued to teach for three years after the illness, until the illness worsened, the strength of her arms was gradually lost, and she could no longer freely write a board book on the three-foot podium she loved.
Zhu Youfang took a picture and had to shave off her hair for physical therapy.
Leave the podium and continue to guard left-behind children
After leaving the podium, Zhu Youfang did not give up her dedication to education. The economic development of Chen Gui Shangluo Village in Daye City is relatively backward, and local farmers mostly grow wheat and rice as their main business. In order to make a living, young people often go out to work, and most of the people left in the village are the elderly and children. Most of the Shangluo schools taught by Zhu Youfang are also left-behind children.
"The parents of these children can't come back a few times a year, and they need the attention of teachers more than the children in the city." Zhu Youfang said that left-behind children are often young, but they have maturity beyond age, and they are more silent in primary school, while in middle school, sometimes there are more difficult situations.
These students who lack parental care make Zhu Youfang full of worries. In 2016, after communicating with Zhu Youfang, the Daye Municipal Education Bureau decided to set up a "Loving Mother" studio at Shangluo School, and although she left the three-foot podium, she accompanied the children in another way.
As a "loving mother", Zhu Youfang is not only responsible for answering questions for students, but also always concerned about the children's family life. "Some children have not seen their parents for too long, and they don't have a smartphone at home, so they come to the studio and use my mobile phone to make video calls to their parents. If there is anything in your heart that no one has to say, you can also talk to me. ”
Zhu Youfang said that she still remembers that there was once a girl, because her parents worked outside the home, her grandparents managed less, and she began to fall in love early in junior high school, often going out to play and watch movies. "I can't bear to watch her narrow her path too early, so I pay more attention to her, communicate with her often, and slowly get back on track." Zhu Youfang said that after the girl graduated, she also expressed her gratitude to her.
But the good times did not last long, and this only opportunity to keep Zhu Youfang and the students in communication slowly became out of reach. In 2018, her condition deteriorated again, and in addition to the persistent pain in her body, Zhu Youfang began to have symptoms of slurred speech and decreased hearing and vision. Realizing that she could no longer help her students, she had to leave Shangluo School.
The condition worsens and I hope to be treated for pain relief
After 2019, Zhu Youfang's health is getting less and less optimistic, and she can still walk under the support of her husband, but gradually she can't do without a wheelchair, and she needs someone to take care of her life 24 hours a day. In order to take care of his wife, Huang Heming had to resign as a physical education teacher at Shangluo School.
In order to alleviate his wife's pain, Huang Heming sought medical treatment everywhere, "I heard that where she can be cured of her illness, I rushed over no matter how far away, but in the end I couldn't be cured."
"Before, there was a self-proclaimed 'divine doctor' Hu Minjun who said that he could cure her illness, and when he swore it, I felt like I saw a life-saving straw that could be grasped." Huang Heming said that "Hu Minjun" lived in his home for a month and a half on the grounds that he was moved by Zhu Youfang's deeds for free treatment, "At the beginning, he did not know what medicine he used, which really made Teacher Zhu more energetic than before." She also used ginger to scrape The sha on Teacher Zhu's face, and as soon as the ginger was stimulated, Teacher Zhu's face turned red and looked particularly pale, which made me and the people around me feel reliable."
After a while, the "divine doctor" in the name of doing good deeds began to charge fees, and left after taking Huang Heming's 35,000 yuan in treatment fees. What pains Huang Heming the most is not being cheated of money, but that his wife has lost hope again.
After the winter of 2021, Zhu Youfang's condition has repeatedly worsened. The physical pain caused by the disease made her sleepless all night, turning over and over every night, tired and able to sleep for more than ten minutes was the limit, and other times she could only lie in bed and grit her teeth until dawn.
"I took her to the hospital to get sleeping pills, and it didn't matter how much I ate from half a pill at the beginning, to one or two pills, and then to how much I ate now." In order to let his wife sleep well, Huang Heming once again asked for medical treatment, "I asked everywhere, found a doctor who treated insomnia, he prescribed medicine on the body can alleviate pain, but only the first night is effective, the back is still the same."
Huang Heming said that at present, relying on drugs alone has no effect on Zhu Youfang's sleep. Under the advice of this insomnia doctor, Zhu Youfang began to try to relieve physical pain through physiotherapy. Winter was supposed to be the season to grow her hair, but she shaved all her hair for the treatment.
"She couldn't act, so she could only let the doctor come to her door to do physiotherapy, 300 yuan each time, not including the cost of Chinese herbal medicine, and the economic pressure was very high." Huang Heming said that he and Zhu Youfang enjoy the local education department's support policy, still enjoy the original salary every month, but there is no performance wage, coupled with the income of his son's part-time work, the family income is several thousand yuan per month, just daily treatment and medicine has been stretched, in recent years, everywhere to seek medical treatment, the family is even more in debt. "Everything that can be borrowed around has been borrowed, but the family has a difficult scripture, and everyone can help them do their best, and then they open their mouths to borrow money, which is really too much to go."
At the end of 2021, the doctor told Huang Heming that Zhu Youfang's situation was already very unoptimistic and could be life-threatening at any time. Huang Heming said that he no longer has the luxury of being able to cure his wife's disease, and can only hope that in the last time, she can live less painfully, "I hope that there is a special hospital that can provide teacher Zhu with free treatment and alleviate some of her illnesses."
Huang Heming said that when she was in good spirits in the past, her wife would discuss with him when she saw the news about rural education, and talk about the children she had taught, but now that she couldn't sleep all night, she was more and more weak and mentally weak, and he was worried that she would not be able to survive this cold and long winter.