Young man conquers handicap to reach Harvard

A famous saying by the 17th-century English poet George Herbert goes, "One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters."

In the case of Ding Zheng, who was born with cerebral palsy in Hubei province and now, in his late 20s, is studying law at Harvard University, his mother, Zou Hongyan, is worth a thousand schoolmasters and more.

On July 21, 1988, shortly after Ding was born, his mother was shocked when a doctor at Jingzhou District Hospital told her there was little value in rescuing the baby, that he would be mentally disabled or paralyzed.

Her husband said they would give up the baby, that Ding would make their life miserable - words that hurt Zou deeply.

Ding Zheng (left) and his mother, Zou Hongyan. Photos provided to China Daily

The 25-year-old mother had suffered enough to give birth to the child. She had been carried home several times by her students after fainting while teaching during her pregnancy. She had forced herself out of the habit of sleeping late, instead reading poems in the early mornings as prenatal training. She had walked a long way to the market to buy fresh vegetables to provide better nutrition for the child in her womb, and she had forced herself to eat even while suffering from severe morning sickness.

But her child was in a life-threatening situation after suffering intrauterine hypoxia, leaving Zou with a choice of either taking the baby off life support or keeping him on it, in which case she probably would have a difficult life taking care of the physically handicapped, and possibly paralyzed, boy.

Zou now recalls deciding, "I will not let my boy die! I felt so happy when his little feet gently kicked my abdomen, and his heart beat together with mine, like dancing a ballroom dance." She recalls her husband telling her she was too stubborn to listen to the doctor's advice. He then told her she would be the one to take care of the baby.

Zou did not change her mind, but began the long journey of rehabilitation for Ding. Zou divorced her husband when Ding turned 10 due to their differences over raising Ding. "Of all the disabilities, I was most afraid that Ding Zheng would be mentally disabled," Zou recalled.

When the boy was less than 100 days old, Zou began taking him to Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine to check his intelligence.

Following continuous treatment, after the boy turned 1 year old, the doctor said Ding's intelligence level was normal.

"Nothing was more soothing than the news that my precious boy has normal intelligence," Zou said.

However, due to damaged motor neurons in the cerebellum, Ding had great difficulties with physical activities. He could not hold things until the age of 1; he learned to stand at the age of 2, walk at 3 and jump at 6. But Zou instilled perseverance in her son and never let him give up.

Ding needed massage treatment three times a week, costing five yuan (about 70 cents) per session. But Zou's monthly salary as a teacher was just over 100 yuan in the 1990s, and she had no insurance covering Ding's rehabilitation.

The family lived in a room of less than 20 square meters. Whenever there was rain, basins and buckets were put on the bed to collect the raindrops. In order to make a living and treat Ding's illness, Zou held many part-time jobs, including selling insurance after work for five years.

Xiao Daiqi, now 75, was a doctor at the department of pediatrics at Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. "I started to treat Ding Zheng when he was less than 1 year old and was suffering from severe cerebral palsy," Xiao said. "It was because his mother paid special attention to his illness, took him to our hospital for treatment at a very early age and continued his treatment nonstop for over 10 years that he could recover to such a great extent. Early and continuous treatment for cerebral palsy patients is crucial."

Ding said: "My mom has undergone huge hardships to bring me up. When I was young, one time we encountered heavy snow when she took me by bike to the hospital for massage treatment. Suddenly, the bike fell over into the mud. When my mom helped me up, the bike fell down; when she lifted the bike, I fell down. The moment we reached the hospital, both of us were covered with mud." Ding said even the doctor was moved by Zou's persistence.

"The moments when my child stood up, walked and called me 'Mommy' for the first time are the happiest in my life," Zou said. "It was like receiving a gift from heaven. I feel I'm a lucky mom." Some might say that Zou has shown her son a lot of "tough love". Using chopsticks, a skill that comes naturally to most Chinese children, was a tremendously difficult task for Ding because of his illness.

Many friends and neighbors urged Zou to allow Ding to quit using them.

"Using chopsticks is a must-do for Chinese people. If he is the only one who does not use chopsticks at the table, people will be curious. And then he has to explain to everybody that he has cerebral palsy, which will surely hurt his self-esteem," said Zou, under whose strict guidance, for over a year, Ding finally learned how to use chopsticks.

Zou tried everything she could to help Ding to overcome any obstacles his handicap had created.

Ding had difficulty holding a pen. So, Zou taught him to draw some shapes with thick-bodied pens by holding his hand, and then she gradually switched to thin pens. Even though Ding was weak in his physical movements, he began learning how to read from his mother at the age of 1, and he knew more than 100 Chinese characters before he was 2 years old.

Thanks to his mother's intense nurturing, Ding graduated from the College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Peking University. He then enrolled in the Law School of Peking University.

In 2016, after working as a lawyer for a year, Ding was admitted to Harvard Law School.

Xinhua