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Indomitable spirit drives wheelchair-bound Samaritan

By Tang Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-16 08:22

Dong Ming was a picture of joy at the opening ceremony. [Provided to China Daily]

Wheelchair-bound Samaritan just keeps giving and giving

GUANGZHOU - Working as a volunteer in the Aoti Aquatics Center at the Asian Para Games is a bittersweet experience for Dong Ming after her dream to be a champion diver was shattered 16 years ago.

Dong started practicing diving at the age of six, but fell off the diving platform three years later as she attempted to avoid colliding with a teammate. The young diver was diagnosed high paraplegia and lived in a vegetative state for six years without any feeling below her neck - she couldn't even speak.

However, during the whole 10 years lying in bed, the brave girl never gave up and fought on with strong determination and a healthy mind.

"I finished all the courses from primary school to high school in bed, and I also learnt Japanese and passed the national examination for senior psychology by myself," said the 24-year-old. "As I couldn't read out the articles or write them, I learnt them by heart."

Besides changing her own life through an optimistic outlook, Dong also devoted herself to helping others. When her condition started to improve in 2005, she began writing on the Internet and gave financial support to less fortunate children through her writing payments. She has also worked as an environmental volunteer, anti-smoking ambassador and teacher of the deaf.

"Though I was disabled, why can't I help others?" said Dong. "Many people think I can only do a few things, but that is just because I have a wheelchair and I can't walk. But I know better to cherish everything I have and how to make contributions."

After the destructive earthquake struck Wenchuan in 2008, Dong volunteered to go to the hardest-hit areas, including Beichuan, Mianyang and Dujiangyan. Her parents, who stopped her, finally decided to go to Sichuan with their daughter and help carry supplies to the victims.

During their one-month stay in Sichuan, Dong successfully woke up two coma victims, helped five orphans talk again through psychological counseling, and built confidence in more than 40 people who were severely disabled in the earthquake.

That year was destined to be Dong's busiest and most unforgettable. She was selected as a torchbearer of the Beijing Olympic Games and was an ambassador and volunteer at the Paralympics.

During that event, Dong worked longer and harder than most other volunteers. Her work won high praise from the late Juan Antonio Samaranch, honorary president for life of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), IOC President Jacques Rogge and Sir Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee.

What moved her most was when Premier Wen Jiabao held her hands and said: "I'm so proud that there is such a brave disabled girl like you in China."

Since then, she has set up the "Dong Ming Counseling Workshop", at her own expense, to provide free help to people in need 365 days of the year. She also became the only disabled volunteer who served in a wheelchair at the 2010 Shanghai Expo in the Chinese Pavilion and Theme Pavilions.

"Maybe it is because I have suffered more hardships than many others that I receive so much love from our nation, society and the other volunteers," said Dong. "That's why I want to make a contribution to society though I am in a wheelchair."

China Daily