Deng Zenghui insisted on exercising every day
Deng Zenghui sat in a wheelchair and lifted dumbbells easily
Ride an electric wheelchair to work
Training in the wheelchair curling team (photo provided by the interviewee)
■Financial media reporters: Xu Yimei, Wang Genghua, Wu Jiaxiao
Intern Huang Lan text/photo
"Exercise makes me feel happy and finds new challenges in life. A few days ago, 37-year-old Deng Zenghui sat in a wheelchair, easily lifted dumbbells, did arm support exercises, and pulled up a video that attracted the attention of netizens. He smiled at the camera when he exercised, and his upper body was fit, which made people forget for a moment that he was a high paraplegic.
At the age of 23, Deng Zenghui accidentally fell and injured himself in a high paraplegia, and once fell into a low point in his life. A few years ago, inspired by "Wheel Friends", he began to insist on healing himself with exercise. Now he has achieved self-care, found a job, and walked out of the haze of pain. As a wheelchair curler, he will soon go to Harbin to participate in a training camp to prepare for next year's National Games for the Disabled and Special Olympics, where he will challenge himself and create a new life.
Fell and injured a high paraplegic and was once desperate
The strange "wheel friend" gave him encouragement
"After the injury, it was so painful that I thought about leaving. Yesterday, in the suite rented by Deng Zenghui's family in Quanzhou Fengze Baoxiu Community, he was able to face it calmly in a wheelchair in the face of reporters talking about the haze of the past.
In 2010, 23-year-old Deng Zenghui from Ji'an, Jiangxi Province, has been working for more than a year, this 180-centimeter-tall sunny guy who loves to play basketball, is in a good time looking forward to the future. But while helping to build a house in his hometown, he accidentally fell from the upper floor, resulting in a spinal cord injury and a high paraplegia.
After more than one month of emergency hospitalization in the hospital, Deng Zenghui, who returned home, began to self-isolate, and his mother found it difficult to accept this reality for a while, and tried various rehabilitation methods to get him back up, but with little success. My sister, who works in Quanzhou, feels sorry for her younger brother and wants to help open his heart and bring him and his mother to live in Quanzhou.
"At that time, my sister took me out to a party to relax, but I always felt that others looked at me in a strange way, and it was difficult to let go. When Deng Zenghui first arrived in Quanzhou, he still couldn't get out of the haze in his heart, and when his family went out to work during the day, he was alone in a daze on the TV, and it was difficult to sleep for many nights. After paraplegia, due to concurrent infection, he had to be hospitalized twice a year, and he was in great physical and mental pain.
By chance, he met a "wheel friend" who also had high paraplegia. "He came out six months after the injury and I admire him. Deng Zenghui said that the positive attitude of the "wheel friends" who sympathize with the disease gave him great encouragement, and he finally saw the sunshine in front of his eyes.
Exercising in a wheelchair relieves pain
Get a job and start a new life
Under the encouragement and life guidance of "Wheel Friends", Deng Zenghui's physical pain has been significantly improved, and he, who once loved basketball, began to resume exercise.
Initially, he tried to use a standing frame to exercise the strength of his upper limbs, standing on the brace for a few seconds and 1 minute...... Challenge yourself gradually. After that, try to sit in a wheelchair and prop up your body with your arms. These actions seem simple to ordinary people, but they are not easy for him.
"My body is gradually finding the feeling, and it is not as stiff and heavy as it used to be. Over the years, Deng Zenghui insisted on exercising at home for half an hour every day, doing three sets of dumbbells and 15 pull-ups each time.
After the injury, Deng Zenghui had neuralgia in his leg, and when he was uncomfortable, he suffered like fire, acupuncture, and electric shock. After insisting on exercising, the release of dopamine gradually relaxed his body and mind, and his pain was significantly reduced. After improving muscle strength and physical fitness, they can be more independent in daily life details such as going to the toilet and sitting in a wheelchair. In the past two years, he also met more paraplegic patients with spinal cord injuries through the non-profit organization "Home of Hope" for spinal cord injury patients in Quanzhou, and the public welfare activities made him more serious about himself and full of hope for life.
Last year, through the introduction of "wheel friends", Deng Zenghui found a job in the urban area to restore luxury goods. Every day he gets up at 7 a.m. and rides his electric wheelchair to work.
Get involved in curling and start a new life
Train in the north to prepare for the Paralympics
Life closed a window to him, but it opened a door. The relationship with curling has added a lot of color to Deng Zenghui's life.
Two years ago, Deng Zenghui would post a video of his workout on social platforms, and the coach of the wheelchair curling team in Guangdong Province saw it and thought that his physical fitness could try the para curling project, so he took the initiative to contact him.
Deng Zenghui said that he had previously gone to Jiangsu to experience wheelchair basketball and could not find the feeling of playing basketball when he was physically able. But when he went to Shenzhen to experience curling, he felt a sense of joy.
Deng Zenghui's initial training overcame many difficulties, the marble curling weighing 20 kilograms, sitting in a wheelchair with a 2-meter-long putter push, requires high arm and waist strength control, physical stability, the slightest carelessness will fall. The temperature of the real ice training ground is less than 5 °C, and the body is prone to frostbite if it is not adaptable.
"The intensity of our training is not low, sometimes two hours of training is followed by one hour of physical training. Deng Zenghui said that although the physical exercise is hard, every time he cooperates with the team members tacitly, launches the wonderful arc of curling, and accurately spins into the red heart, he has a great sense of achievement.
Last year, Deng Zenghui participated in the National Para Curling Championship as a member of the wheelchair curling team of Guangdong Province. On April 26, he will go to Harbin for a three-month training camp to prepare for the 2025 National Games for the Disabled and Special Olympics.
"Except that I can't walk, my life is pretty normal now. Deng Zenghui said with a smile that he would insist on exercising to keep himself healthy and happy.
Editor in charge: Lai Minrong