Man cut in half lives to walk again

He is Peng Shulin, from the Province of Hunan in China. When his body was cut in two by a lorry in 1995, it was little short of a medical miracle that he lived. He survived against all the odds, with just 78cm left of his upper body, now Peng Shulin has astounded doctors by learning to walk again.

It took a team of more than 20 doctors to save his life. Skin was grafted from his head to seal his torso. Bedridden for years, doctors had little hope that he would ever be able to live anything like a normal life agan. But he is a tough guy. He kept a regular exercise with his arms, building up the strength to carry out everyday chores such as washing his face and brushing his teeth.

Doctors at the China Rehabilitation Research Centre in Beijing found out about Peng's plight and started to come up with a plan to get him walk again. They introduced an ingenious way to allow him to walk on his own, by creating a sophisticated egg cup-like casing to hold his body with two bionic legs attached to it.

Without much difficulties, he took his first steps around the centre with his specially adapted legs and, a resized walking frame. He is finally able to walk again after spending 12 years in bed.

Peng is now operating a convenient store with his wife.

Recalling back his bedridden days, Peng said that the thought of committing suicide had troubled his mind. He was, definately found it difficult to accept what was happening to him. However, he said, "My wife didn't leave me, she stayed and took care of me, day and night, how could i have the heart to kill myself ?" He also said, "I have lost half of my body, i am not going to waste what's left with me."

I've choosen his story to be the first article on my blog. His adventure in life has created an impact in my thought ever since i came to read about it on the net several months ago. He had his misfortune. He had it bad. But i admire his strength & his determination. You can see from the photos, he shows much confidence in his face while trying to rebuild his life by learning to walk again with the adapted legs.

In my opinion, he has been given a 2nd life. He was rebirthed, to feel and experience a different perspective in life.