Story told by Liu YanTranscribed by Jing Nv Yaoyao

W heeling Through the Europe

Story told by Liu YanTranscribed by Jing Nv Yaoyao

July 6th 2009,for me who was going to graduate as a Japanese major from TianjinForeignStudiesUniversity, should be a celebrating and joyful day. Ironically,just on that night,I was tramped by a lorry.

When my eyes were opened,I found my mother full of tears begging the doctors to save my feeble life while my father standing by her with a blue T-shirt whose back was fully wet with his sweats.They were so eager to fight me back from the Death that they went up and down several times by the stairs in this dozen-floor hospital torush through those paper works,totally forgetting to take the elevator.

Because large and severer damage of my inner organs,I had an open surgery.My lungs,stomach,livers and kidneys were repaired and the spleen was extirpated.On seeing that broken spleen bringing out of the operation room by the nurse,Mum paralyzed down to floor and started to cry.

In that period of time,I always felt so sleepy and I could always hear mum’s whispering“My little girl, please hold on!”

In my eight months’ICU life,there were32emergencynoticesgotten from doctors.And later,the Doctor just put up a poster with“Bed No.36 Intensive Care”on the corridor notice broad.

In the 8 months,the floor of ICU turned into my 50-year-old father’s bed.Those nights,he guarded by my side without a break,and from time to time put his hand under my nose to confirm I was still breathing.One night,I woke up at midnight and found father still sitting beside my bed.I told him I wanted some water. It took him a while struggling stand up with the help of the handrails of the hospital bed,since his knees were so painfulafterthelongtimefreezing floor sleep.Watching his trembling movement for my water in the dim light,I couldn't help souring my nose.

After some time,I was allowed to have meals,but I did not have a slice appetizer to enjoy the food.The hopeless future depressed me gradually.I had to sustain my life by transfusing the nutrition.Thus,with a height of 1. 7 meter,my weight dropped to less than 40 kilos.My legs were thinner than Dad’s arms.Anyhow,my parents never gave up.They jammed all my favorite jellies and chocolates into the cabinet beside my hospital bed.

Before my accident,my mother was a lawyer in Beijing.But now,she had to leave his job and to concentrate on taking care of my life.My father also chose to retire earlier than he planned and to be my 24*7 nurse.

Tospendtherestoflifeon wheelchairs was an abyss to me who then was just 26 years old.The desperation led me even to consider saying farewell to the life.Though gradually I have gotten used to those harsh words like“disabled”and“paralyzed”as well as made up my mind to try my best facing the life,those embarrassing details in the daily life could easily tacklemedown.Forexample:although my parents were really careful, after my long time on wheelchair,plus always wearing the adult paper diapers outdoors,the pressure sores appeared on my hips.It was worse that the sores were very hard to recover because of my damaged spin and weak blood recycling function.

It had been for a while that I hated to go out by wheelchair and shut myself off the world.Every time when I found strangers’eyes being on the wheelchair,I would lower my head to avoid such annoyed concerns.The more reluctant I showed on going outside,the more insisting my mother would be to bring me out.She thought only by accepting the harsh status quo could I really face the future life.With time went by,Mum would share with strangers the reason why I sat on the wheel chair and I finally accepted the fact.

2012 was coming,which had been the thirdyearformetositonthe wheelchair.

One day I was just sitting by the window with nothing to do,Mum suddenly said to me:“my little girl,are you still interested in traveling to Europe?Let our family go there and explore before your father and I turn too old.”I was astonished.To raise such an offer needed a lot of courage,no matter for me who is trapped by the wheelchair or my aging parents,besides the disaster which almost cost all the life-long savings of my parents.

In April 2012,together with the wheelchair,we three finally boarded on the flight to Europe.

In Belgium,father rent a car.I leaned on him looking around excitedly.I had never seen such changeable sky:you seemed to hear the drifting of the clouds.I took a deep breath of the strange humid but fresh air and I had never been so gratitude that I still had my rest functional body.

Father hold me down off the car to thewheelchair,andwheeledme strolling on those old pebble streets. Sometimes on the bumpy road,the wheel would be stuck and hard to roll forward,my parents had to lift it together and carry it with their hands.At that time,I imagined myself an ancient princesssitting inabridalsedan, though the carriers were my parents who were accompanying me to enjoy the view even when they were exhausted and out of breath.

In Vatican museum,there was a spiral staircase.The slope was acceptable in the beginning.However,the further it goes,the steeper and higher the stairs became.It was very challenging for father to bring me down the stairs. At the very moment when father used up his last strength and the wheelchair was about to lose control,it was mother’s leaping to pull the wheelchair back which save me landing safely.

Through the whole trip,I could not forward one step without my parents. Furthermore,my wounded spin too sensitive to the cold temperature was also a problem haunted in their minds. At every stop,father would park the wheelchair in places full of sunshine, to soothe the coldness of my body.

In Oostende,a heavy shower attacked us when we were enjoying the beautifulnorthAtlantic.ThoughI stayed in the car since the harsh wind and rain,my whole body was freezing from head to toe because I had not been staying in a 13centigrade environment for such long hours.Due to insufficient supply of blood to the heart,I was nearly suffocated and unable to keep my eyes open.

Despite the bitter rain,father rushed to the nearest shop to buy chocolate for me.With chocolate in the mouth,I was embraced by mom.She comforted me as a baby and gently blew warm breath to my face.Gradually,I found the right pace of breathing.On that moment,it came to me that why not cherish everything I had now when even breathing was as a blessing to me.

Along the journey,we walked sightseeing and rest in nearby hotels when we were tired.One night,father was about to trim the nails for me in the hotel.After preparing the hot water and trying the temperature by hand,he gently put my feet into water.After washing them,father put on his glass es and moved a stool to sit in front ofme.He held my swelling feet in his arms and trimmed the snails with his full heart.He even polished them after trimming.Watching his gray hair in the dim light,I felt sweet and bitter. Mom,besideus,wasironing our clothes quietly.For several times,I found she stopped to smile and watch us.The moment,I suddenly felt that my pain was so tiny in such a big world.As long as we three were together,we were at home.

In July 2012,we finally accomplished the journey which seemed impossible to others.

With the love,encouragement and forgiveness to each other,we finished an about 35000 kilometers trip which covered 90 days,28 countries and more than 60 cities.To me who was reborn by it,the trip carried the whole transformation from being lost,finding and enlightening.In order to record the“reborn”,I began to blog our trip stories by using the little finger of my right hand which was the only one movable.Withtimewentby,I re-picked the interest of typing my story and also refilled my confidence.I gave myself a new name--“YIYI”, and used it to publish many critics, lyrics and essays on online communities.The friends I made online called me“the most beautiful traveler on the wheelchair”.

At the beginning of 2015,my travel story whose more than 200000 characters were all typed by my little finger was formally published.With this,I want to give all my gratitude to my parents who have accompanied me through the most difficult time in my life.I know I will not be fear of the future,since we three are the most stable triangle.

(FromFamilyVol.9 2015.Translation: ZhaoYan.Illustration:YuShuli, Liang Baigeng)