Lee Chung Wai, Malaysia's legendary badminton player, has won 69 international championship titles in his career and ranked first in the world for 199 consecutive weeks. His "Yuliang dispute" with Lin Dan has become a major event in the feather altar.
40 head-to-head encounters, 22 final clashes, including two direct Olympic showdowns, have become a classic that is difficult to surpass in the badminton world. But such a wonderful game, because Lee suddenly broke the cancer.
In 2018, Li Zongwei held a press conference, and he cried into tears at the scene: In the past 19 years, I desperately want the country to win the Olympic gold medal, unfortunately, I am sick, and there will be no chance to realize my dream in the future.
First, 33 times of electrotherapy, the throat is all rotten: it is really painful
"It's really painful." When talking about the experience of nasopharyngeal cancer again, Li Zongwei's voice trembled.
In the days of anti-cancer, Li Zongwei was once very depressed, not at all as heroic and indomitable as he usually was on the field.
The whole treatment process underwent 33 times of electrotherapy, and by the third week his throat was completely festering, unable to speak, and even drinking water would be accompanied by severe pain, let alone eating, which was endless torture. His neck was also completely dry and peeling, and he needed to wrap his neck tightly every time he took a bath, and it would be very painful when he dipped in water.
Under such long-term torture, Li Zongwei secretly cried in the bathroom many times late at night, and in order not to worry his family, he had to force a smile.
Fortunately, there is also his wife Huang Miaozhu who accompanies her through those dark years. But Li Zongwei knew that every time he slept, his wife would always secretly cry and often wash her face with tears at night.
In the documentary "Li Zongwei's Life Outside the Boundary", talking about his wife's efforts, he frequently shed tears: fortunately, she accompanied me, without her, maybe I would have given up a long time ago, she is my guardian angel.
Second, good luck! It costs tens of millions of recoveries
The nasopharyngeal carcinoma obtained by Li Zongwei is generally treated by proton therapy and treated by firing radiation. Because there are many important organs around the nose, it is difficult to take surgery to remove them directly, but at the same time, nasopharyngeal cancer is extra sensitive to radiation, so proton rays are preferred.
Proton therapy is a more targeted form of radiation therapy than ordinary radiation therapy. Protons are positively charged particles that, when they enter human tissues at a very high rate, have a very low chance of interacting with normal tissues or cells in the human body due to their speed.
When they reach a specific part of the cancerous tissue cell, the proton releases maximum energy, which kills the cancer cell while protecting the normal tissue around the lesion.
Compared with traditional radiation therapy and other methods, the side effects of proton therapy are much smaller, and the effective rate of proton therapy for tumors is more than 95%, and the 5-year survival rate is as high as 80%, but the price is also particularly expensive.
But in order to save her husband, his wife Huang Miaozhu almost poured out her family property, spending a total of 9.36 million yuan before and after: everything is not in the middle, I only want him to be healthy, do not leave me alone.
Fortunately, the results were gratifying, and after a year of treatment, Li Zongwei recovered. But in addition to the wife's meticulous care, it is inseparable from the "relay of money".
3. "My story with badminton is not over"
In 2019, after lin dan learned the news of Li Zongwei's retirement, he shared a "friend don't cry" with the text for the first time: Playing alone, no one accompanies me. The two of them cherish each other and achieve each other: many of my brilliance must be thanked for Li Zongwei's "fulfillment".
Although Li Zongwei is always jokingly called the "millennium old man", he is the god of repeated defeats in the hearts of Malaysians, but his appearance has made Malay badminton always stand at the top level in the world, in the words of fans, he alone dragged the horse forward, supporting the glory of the whole country.
Although he has to retire due to his illness, he has never stopped insisting on badminton. He became Malaysia's Badminton Promotion Ambassador, continuing to nurture and nurture talent for the country: I will never leave Malaysia and let the strength of a new generation continue to be passed on.
In August this year, Malausia's men's doubles Xie Su team won the first gold medal at the World Championships, creating history and breaking the 74-year record, and Li Zhongwei finally realized his dream.
Although the phoenix has flown by, there will always be traces in the sky.