Posted by Peng Shuilin, from Hunan Province, was hit by a truck in Shenzhen, China, in 1995, which severed the lower half of his body. He survived thanks to a team of over 20 doctors and, after years in bed, walked again in 2007 thanks to an egg cup-shaped casing with two bionic legs. Standing 78 cm tall, in 2009 he opened a supermarket called the “Half Man – Half Price Store”.
Peng Shuilin is a Chinese man who in 1995 was the victim of an accident that cost him the lower half of his body. He now measures 78 cm.
The accident
Peng Shuilin was born in Hunan Province, but in 1995 he was in Shenzhen, in southern China, when he was hit by a freight truck. The vehicle literally sliced him in half.
His legs, along with his pelvis, were cleanly severed from the rest of his body. Doctors immediately realized that the lower half could not be saved.
A video shot by passers-by also circulates online, allegedly showing a man cut in half by a truck still conscious, looking at his severed legs beside him and trying to lift himself up, now and then touching his torn belly with his intestines spilling out. It is often linked to Peng, but there is no proof that it is really him.
What is certain is that Peng was rushed to hospital. His condition seemed hopeless at first but, after a long operation, he survived. For many doctors it was little short of a miracle.
Peng Shuilin’s recovery
It took a team of over 20 doctors to carry out the first of the many operations he underwent. During nearly two years in hospital in Shenzhen, surgeons had to re-route almost every major organ and system in his body.
To close his torso, which had been left open at the bottom, doctors used skin grafts taken from his head.
Then the long recovery began. Without the lower half of his body Peng was bedridden for years, because any effort risked damaging the skin protecting his internal organs. Little by little, though, he began to improve and trained his arms, until he could manage everyday tasks on his own, like washing his face or brushing his teeth.
The bionic legs
Once he had regained his strength, Peng began looking for companies specializing in prosthetics. In 2007 doctors at the China Rehabilitation Research Centre in Beijing built him a very special system: a rigid casing, like a large egg cup, holding his torso and attached to two bionic legs.
With the help of a walking frame resized to his height, and a new pair of sneakers, Peng took his first steps along the center’s corridors, astonishing the doctors.
After hard training he managed to move more and more independently. At a later checkup the hospital’s vice-president said he was fitter than most men his age.
Half Man – Half Price
Peng never lost heart and, on the contrary, he managed to turn his story into an opportunity. In November 2009 newspapers reported that he had opened a small discount supermarket, named with a good dose of self-irony the “Half Man – Half Price Store”.
Today his story is used as an example for other amputees. He smiles at life and is happy to go on living.
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