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"Half Man - Half Price
Store"
The Story of Peng Shuilin
In life we keep
complaining about�what is or why�we don't have.
Half the time we seem dissatisfied, though full-bodied and
free to choose. Fat people say,"I want to be slim." Skinny
people say,"I want to be fatter."
�Poor people want to be rich and rich are never satisfied
with what they have.
PENG Shuilin is 78cms high. He was born in Hunan Province ,
China .
In 1995, in Shenzhen, a freight truck sliced his body in
half.
His lower body and legs were beyond repair.
Surgeons sewed up
his torso.
Peng Shuilin, 37, spent nearly two years in hospital in
Shenzhen, southern China ,
undergoing a series of operations to re-route nearly every
major organ or system inside his body.
Peng kept exercising his arms, building up strength, washing
his face and brushing his teeth.
He survived against all� odds.
Now Peng Shulin has astounded doctors by learning to walk
again after a decade.
Considering Peng's plight, doctors�at the China
Rehabilitation Research Centre in Beijing
devised an�ingenious way to allow him to walk on his own,
creating a sophisticated egg cup-like casing to hold his
body, with two bionic legs attached.
It took careful
consideration, skilled measurement and technical expertise.
Peng�has been�walking�the corridors�of Beijing
Rehabilitation Centre
with the aid of his specially adapted legs and a resized
walking frame.
RGO is a recipicating gait orthosis, attached to a
prosthetic socket bucket.
There is a cable attached to both legs so when one goes
forward, the other goes backwards.
Rock to the side, add a bit of a twist and the leg without
the weight on it advances,
while the other one stays still, giving�a highly�
inefficient way of ambulation.
Oh so satisfying to 'walk' again after ten years with half a
body!
Hospital vice-president Lin Liu said: "We've just given him
a checkup; he is fitter than most men his age."
Peng Shuilin has opened his own bargain supermarket,
called the Half Man-Half Price Store.
The inspirational 37-year-old has become a businessman
and is used as a role model for other amputees.
At just 2ft 7ins tall, he�moves around in a wheelchair
giving lectures on recovery from disability.
His attitude is�amazing, he doesn't complain.
"He had good care, but his secret is cheerfulness. Nothing
ever gets him down."�
�
You have a whole body. You have feet.
Now you have met a man who has no feet.�
His life�is a feat of endurance, a triumph of the human
spirit in overcoming extreme adversity.
Next time you want to complain about something trivial,
don't.�
Remember Peng Shulin instead.
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Oanh Latham
(oanhlatham62@yahoo.com)