{"id":230662,"date":"2020-09-12T09:37:01","date_gmt":"2020-09-12T14:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=230662"},"modified":"2020-09-11T00:21:55","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T05:21:55","slug":"folded-man-china-stand-walk-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/folded-man-china-stand-walk-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Folded man’ in China can stand and walk after 28 years, thanks to groundbreaking surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A man with a severe illness in China has a new lease on life after a series of surgeries has enabled him to stand up straight and walk for the first time in 28 years. The South China Morning Post shared a video<\/a> of Li Hua, whose spine was severely deformed from ankylosing spondylitis, a debilitating form of arthritis that causes the bones in the spine to fuse together. Referred to as the “folded man,” Li was completely bent over at the waist, with his face touching his thigh. Because of the way he was bent, he faced a number of health difficulties, and his 71-year-old mother faithfully cared for him.<\/p>\n

According to a July 2020 report from the UK Sun<\/a>, his condition “put pressure on his heart and lungs,” which would eventually “lead[] to a loss of organ function and eventually death.”\u00a0The Chinese farmer began dealing with difficulties from the condition at age 19. It was not until Li reached age 46 that a team of doctors at Shenzhen University General Hospital was able to perform a series of four extremely complicated and life-altering surgeries to help him. He was admitted to the hospital on June 28, 2019, and was released exactly one year later \u2014 on his birthday \u2014 after months of recovery and physical therapy.<\/p>\n

The UK Sun reported<\/a> in July:<\/p>\n

The professor and his team at the teaching hospital spent two weeks creating a treatment plan and another three months preparing Mr Li for surgery.\u00a0<\/em>The series of four high-risk surgeries took place between 15th August and 31st October last year, and involved breaking Mr Li’s bones in sections and straightening them out again.<\/em><\/p>\n

The longest of the operations took 10 hours and 25 minutes on 18th September.<\/em><\/p>\n

Surgical team member Professor Tao Huiren said the series of surgeries was like “climbing Mount Everest.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Claire, Frank, and Ben prove that even with illness and disability, life is worth living<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n