In August 2002, the men's volleyball world championship was held in the United States, and the 23-year-old Lu Fei participated in the team as the main team.
At this time, Lu Fei has only been in the national team for a few months, and this is his first time facing an international competition. Many people are skeptical that the head coach will arrange Lu Fei as the main starting force.
However, Lu Fei's performance quickly convinced everyone, and in the first game against Italy, although the Chinese team lost in the end, Lu Fei was the most outstanding player in the whole game, leaving a deep impression on the Italian commentators.
In the subsequent match against the United States, the Chinese team won the match 3-0 with super play, and Lu Fei played a crucial role in the whole match.
With his outstanding performance in this World Championship, Lu Fei has become a rising star of the Chinese men's volleyball team, and Lu Fei himself has infinite hopes for his future, he wants to participate in more competitions, he wants to participate in the Olympics, he wants to stand on the Olympic podium.
However, people have bad luck, and an illness has made this World Championship the highest point of Lu Fei's sports career.
"Genius disease"
It happened on the way home after the World Championships. At that time, the members of the national team had already disembarked from the plane, and in the passage of the airport, Lu Fei gradually began to pant as he walked.
At first, the team members thought that Lu Fei was playing treasure again. Lu Fei has a cheerful and humorous personality, and usually chats can often make everyone lean forward and back. The players saw him suddenly gasping for breath there, and thought he was going to perform some kind of joke again.
But soon, Lu Fei bent down with a painful expression, and then his body fell to the side. Fortunately, the teammates next to him quickly helped him and did not fall to the ground.
Only then did the team realize that something was wrong and rushed him to the hospital.
When he woke up again, Lu Fei was already lying on a hospital bed. The doctor told him that he had a pneumothorax — not a major illness, but a month of recovery, during which time he could not exercise.
For a national team athlete, not training for a month is very fatal, but in order to recover better, Lu Fei still obeys the doctor's advice and recuperates at ease.
However, in the follow-up treatment, the doctor found a series of very abnormal conditions, and it seemed that Lu Fei's cardiovascular system was not normal. The doctor communicated the situation to the national team, which arranged for Lu Fei to undergo a comprehensive examination. The results of the examination showed that Lu Fei actually suffered from "Marfan syndrome".
This is a genetic disease, and patients often show extraordinary athletic talent in teenagers, such as tall stature and strong muscle explosiveness. Therefore, many patients are selected as athletes when they are teenagers.
But as they age, people with Marfan syndrome become more and more vulnerable to their cardiovascular disease, to the point of being life-threatening. Those who are selected as athletes are often found to have the disease after years of hard training, and have to give up their achievements.
This is a terrible disease that is currently incurable. According to statistics, the average life expectancy of patients is about 40 years old, and some live to be more than 50 years old, but if you exercise vigorously, patients in their twenties and thirties may also die suddenly.
As an athlete, Lu Fei had heard of this disease, because American athlete, mainland athletes Zhu Gang, and Huo Xuan all died of this disease, and the moment he learned that he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, Lu Fei really felt that the sky was falling.
If it had been found out earlier, Lu Fei would not have been so painful, but at this time, Lu Fei had just entered the national team, and he was still the main player, and in order to get to this step, Lu Fei had invested 11 years of hard work in volleyball.
Years of hard work, hard to give up
Lu Fei, who was in the hospital bed, couldn't help but recall his first encounter with volleyball.
Lu Fei, born in 1979, grew faster than other children since he was a child, and it is said that he had grown to one meter six at the age of 10, and now it seems that this should be caused by Marfan syndrome, but at that time, Lu Fei's parents did not know what Marfan was, and thought that their son had inherited their tall genes.
Lu Fei liked sports very much, there was no equipment in the school at that time, and the physical education class was nothing more than doing exercises and running, even so, Lu Fei still showed extraordinary athletic talent and was noticed by the physical education teacher.
So one day, Lu Fei's physical education teacher and homeroom teacher specifically found Lu Fei's parents and suggested that Lu Fei take the sports school exam.
Lu Fei's parents were a little apprehensive at first, thinking that it was safer to study cultural classes in the future, but with the joint persuasion of the physical education teacher and the class teacher, Lu Fei's parents agreed to let Lu Fei try. In this way, Lu Fei came to the district sports school to take the entrance exam, and he was 12 years old this year. The physical education teacher applied him to athletics.
However, when I arrived at the examination room, I learned that a mountain is taller than a mountain, and although Lu Fei runs faster than ordinary people, track and field is not his strong point, and his results are not good.
Seeing that the results were not up to standard, Lu Fei and the physical education teacher were about to leave disappointed. If they really left at this time, Lu Fei's life might be different.
But at this moment, the volleyball examiner on the side suddenly stopped them and suggested that Lu Fei try volleyball, because he had just seen Lu Fei's performance when running and felt that his bouncing power was good. Lu Fei had never been exposed to volleyball before, but with the attitude of coming to all, he accepted this suggestion.
As the volleyball examiner expected, Lu Fei's bouncing power and muscle explosiveness are particularly good. Of course, in hindsight, it was related to his Marfan syndrome.
But Lu Fei did not embark on the road of sports entirely because of Ma Fan, in fact, Lu Fei has an amazing understanding of volleyball.
Since he had never touched volleyball before, the examiner now taught him a few batting movements, but he didn't expect Lu Fei to master it immediately, which didn't look like he had learned it now.
After the exam, Lu Fei excitedly told the physical education teacher who brought him that he preferred to play ball than athletics. And his results also passed the test successfully.
After entering the volleyball team of the district sports school, Lu Fei was selected by the city sports school in just two months with his extraordinary talent and hard work. After another two years, he was selected by the provincial sports school and entered the Jiangsu volleyball youth team.
In the blink of an eye, ten years later, in 2001, Lu Fei participated in the National Men's Volleyball League as a member of the Jiangsu provincial team. Previously, the Jiangsu men's volleyball team had just experienced a period of downturn, and it was eliminated early for several consecutive years, and this year, I don't know if it was because of Lu Fei, the Jiangsu team actually became a dark horse and won the championship.
And the one who has gained the most attention through this league is undoubtedly Lu Fei. At this time, the 22-year-old Lu Fei was already two meters tall, and his arm span was amazing when he jumped up and hit the ball, and fans nicknamed him "Big Bird".
At the 9th National Games in the same year, Jiangsu men's volleyball team won the championship again, and Jiangsu was the champion in the 2002 National League.
With the team winning three consecutive championships, Lu Fei also gained more and more attention, and Lu Fei ranked second in the technical ranking of the National Men's Volleyball League that year.
He was also noticed by the national team, which was preparing for the Athens Olympics to select a group of people from various local teams.
Although Lu Fei is a 22-year-old youngster, with his outstanding performance, the national team finally chose him. Less than 2 years after his debut, he was selected for the national team, and Lu Fei was ecstatic, but he also worked harder to train.
In his own words, "After entering the national team, I found that many teammates who have become dads are still training very hard, and as a newcomer, I dare not slacken." ”
Just a few months after entering the national team, Lu Fei participated in the World Championships held in the United States, and with his extraordinary performance on the field, Lu Fei proved himself to those who questioned him, and Lu Fei at this time had a good future. But the diagnosis of Marfan syndrome shattered his dreams in an instant.
After further diagnosis, Lu Fei's symptoms were not very serious at this time. But the national team knew that this was terribly ill, and in this way, Lu Fei had to leave the national team.
Looking back on these months of ups and downs, it is like a dream.
After that, Lu Fei returned to Jiangsu to recuperate and recuperate for more than a year. During the year, Lu Fei thought about his life, and in the end, he still felt reluctant to give up volleyball.
He died young, and his widow was helped by Hui Ruoqi
Lu Fei wants to return to the Jiangsu team. In fact, his symptoms are indeed not serious at this time, but playing is a very demanding thing for cardiopulmonary function after all, so the leader of the Jiangsu team refused at first.
For this reason, Lu Fei directly invited his father to promise that even if something happened, the team would not be held accountable. Lu Fei also expressed his sincere love for volleyball to the leader: "If you want to die, you will die on the volleyball court!" ”
In this way, Lu Fei put on the Jiangsu team shirt again. However, due to physical reasons, he is no longer the main force.
In 2010, Lu Fei fainted again during training, and doctors found that his symptoms had worsened after being sent to the hospital. Lu Fei was not surprised by this, after all, this disease gradually worsened with age, and this admission made him realize that it was time for him to retire.
After retiring, Lu Fei became a coach in the Jiangsu team. Although Lu Fei has played professional competitions for ten years, his entire career resume is not good, and all decent results were won in 01 and 02.
Therefore, after becoming a coach, Lu Fei also led some children's teams at the beginning. However, Lu Fei has a spirit of research, he works hard to learn theoretical knowledge, ponders teaching methods, and gets along well with children.
In 2015, in the National U16 Volleyball Championship, Jiangsu won the championship, and the coach of Jiangsu U16 was Lu Fei. Lu Fei is no less happy than when he won the game, he feels that he has regained the sense of accomplishment of the year, and he feels that he may be able to make up for the regrets of the year in the position of coach.
At the same time, a new chapter began in his personal life, he got married and had a lovely daughter.
In 2017, after investigation, the leaders of the Jiangsu team were very optimistic about Lu Fei and decided to promote him as the head coach of the second team of Jiangsu Province.
However, the world is impermanent, and Lu Fei's appointment has not yet been officially approved, and on December 5 of this year, Lu Fei fainted again.
After being rushed to the hospital, the doctor diagnosed him with abdominal aortic dissection, which to put it bluntly, the blood pressure broke through the blood vessels, causing heavy bleeding in the body. On the night of being sent to the hospital, Lu Fei immediately underwent surgery, and the emergency operation was quite successful, and Lu Fei was safely pushed out of the operating room.
However, on the morning of December 7, Lu Fei's condition suddenly deteriorated, and although doctors at the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Nanjing tried their best to rescue him, he eventually died at the age of 38.
Lu Fei originally thought that if he was not an athlete, he would not be in danger, but he did not expect that Marfan syndrome was like a curse, and he did not even live to the average life of a patient.
At this time, the most helpless is Lu Fei's wife and children, Lu Fei and his wife gave birth to two daughters, the eldest daughter was 4 years old at this time, and the younger daughter was less than one year old.
Lu Fei left so suddenly, the family is equivalent to losing a source of income all of a sudden, and the two daughters are so young, it costs money to eat and drink Lazar every day, and the grief of losing her husband and the worry about the future weigh on Lu Fei's wife at the same time.
Just when his wife was washing her face with tears all day, one day in February 2018, Hui Ruoqi came.
Hui Ruoqi, who is also from the Jiangsu team, not only comforted her sister-in-law, but also brought 153,000 yuan and handed it over to her sister-in-law in person.
At this time, Hui Ruoqi became famous and was ready to retire. As a social sports star, Hui Ruoqi has set up a charitable foundation in her own name to help retired athletes who have difficulty in life.
Through the circle of friends learned of the nightmare of Lu Fei's death, Hui Ruoqi was at the rehearsal site of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Her first reaction was that it was too sudden, and just two months ago, the two had met at a mutual friend's wedding.
In addition to grief, Hui Ruoqi immediately thought that Lu Fei's wife and children needed help. Therefore, she immediately called some charities, and several institutions pooled 153,000 yuan to give to Lu Fei's widow, of which Hui Ruoqi gave 38,000 yuan.
This money can be said to solve the urgent needs of Lu Fei's wife, with this money, she also took out a loan, and she also had a stable income by rent...
The idea of doing public welfare was born by Hui Ruoqi during her own surgery due to illness. Hui Ruoqi also has some heart problems, and she has undergone two consecutive surgeries in 16 years, and it is said that the situation is very dangerous.
After a smooth recovery, Hui Ruoqi couldn't help but think that there are many athletes who are not as lucky as herself, who may suffer from long-term illness for various reasons, so she set up a charity foundation. After officially retiring, Hui Ruoqi devoted her main energy to public welfare.
In 2022, Hui Ruoqi will enter the "airplane mode" at the beginning of the year, rushing to Xiamen, Beijing, Shenyang, Hangzhou and other places, doing public welfare, doing VAL leagues, and every day is fully arranged.
Now Hui Ruoqi also has a two-year-old daughter, and every time she comes home from a business trip, her daughter will be particularly clinging to her, and she has to be coaxed by Hui Ruoqi to sleep.
Sometimes, when Hui Ruoqi comes home, it is already late at night, and she likes to eat a baked sweet potato to cushion her stomach.
In the words of Hui Ruoqi, "In the public eye, athletes are very positive and sunny images, and such images themselves have a very strong public welfare attribute." ”
Lu Fei's wife and children were the first people to get her help. Now more and more people are helping and motivating her. As a fortunate and successful athlete, she is willing to use her influence to help more people.
Resources:
The death of former men's volleyball national player Lu Fei due to illness attracted attention to the Chinese Volleyball Association urging the strengthening of player physical screening Beijing Youth Daily 2017
Untimely death! Former Chinese men's volleyball main receiver Lu Fei died of illness China.com 2017