Bryan Wishart
June 2002
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This is about Lee, Chi Won; Liu, Zhang-zhong; and Tsai, Tsung-Ta.
Four years ago I decided that I wanted to help teenagers who had polio. At that time, the intent was to provide a few dollars every so often.
After some searching I found a seventeen year old in Korea, about one hour south of Seoul. His name is Lee, Chi Won. He contracted polio when he was six years old. Six months afterwards his family put him into a rehabilitation centre because they were too poor to look after him. This is where I found him.
A couple of months later,
I found out about a junior wheelchair tennis camp in San Diego. Chi Won's profile
stated that he played wheelchair tennis (and wheelchair basketball). I asked
him through an interpreter if he wanted to go and he said yes.
This was an interesting trip. I met Chi Won for the first time the day before
we flew out of Seoul. I had never spent any time with anyone handicapped. So,
this was a very new experience for both of us. Fortunately, we got on very well
and had a very good time together. And, as it turned out, Chi Won is a very
talented sportsman.
I encouraged Chi Won to play on the international wheelchair tennis circuit. This has resulted in him visiting Australia four times as well as playing in Japan a number of times, England, USA and Europe. He has represented Korea in both wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball.
During one tennis tournament, as we were travelling by coach to the tennis courts, the president of the International Wheelchair Tennis Federation asked me how I got into this. I said "by accident". His response, sitting in his wheelchair, was "that is how most of us do".
I have had some very good times with Chi Won. From a sporting point of view, the best times were when I have seen him win tournaments.
Chi Won is now twenty-two years old. He is working, drives a little sporty car and has a girl friend.
Chi Won has stopped playing tennis for the time being and is concentrating on his job and basketball.
In June 1999, my contact
found Liu, Zhang-zhong. Zhang-zhong contracted polio when he was two years old.
Zhang-zhong lives in the middle of Taiwan in a home for the disabled. Zhang-zhong's
family is also very poor and has difficulty looking after him.
When I met Zhang-zhong, he had an old wheelchair that did not have a proper
cushion and was difficult to push around. So, I bought him a new, modern wheelchair.
The happiness this brought him was worth the investment.
Last year Zhang-zhong had an operation to straighten his knees. When I saw him
a couple of months later, he was so happy that he could walk, albeit wearing
leg braces and using crutches. This was the first time he had been able to walk
since contracting polio eighteen years previously. This was a very good alternative
to just sitting in a wheelchair all day. Able-bodied people take so many things
for granted.
Zhang-zhong is now starting to play wheelchair tennis more. He also plays a little wheelchair basketball.
Zhang-zhong is now twenty years old and still goes to school. I spent a couple of weeks with Zhang-zhong in May 2002. I met him at the hotel in Taipei on a Friday night and we spent the weekend together; shopping, going to movies, eating, talking. Tsung-Ta joined us for dinner on one of the nights.
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Also, the three of
us spent an hour in the hotel swimming pool doing a photo-shoot.My company
flew a photographer from Hong Kong to take photographs in support of an
article they are writing about Chi Won, Tsung-Ta, Zhang-zhong and myself
in the in-house magazine. |
On the Monday, we flew to Korea. This was Zhang-zhong's first time in an aeroplane and his first time outside Taiwan. He was a little apprehensive but settled down and enjoyed the flight.
The main purpose for the trip to Korea was for Zhang-zhong to play in two wheelchair tennis tournaments: the first in Inchon (Korea Open), an hour out of Seoul, and the second (Daegu Open), a one-hour flight south of Seoul.
It is still early days with Zhang-zhong for tennis. He played in one of the lower grades and did reasonably well, showing good promise. He is keen to learn and to progress through the rankings. There are a couple of issues: he does not have his own tennis wheelchair and had to borrow one that was unsuitable and he does not have a proper coach. I am working to address both these points.
Between the two tournaments and after the second tournament we spent some time in Seoul, doing things together, including more shopping, eating and talking as well as going to an IMAX theatre.
I took Zhang-zhong to the
hotel discotheque in Seoul. There he did wheelchair dancing for the first time
and was excellent. This made me very happy. We also played pool.
Although I said we did some talking, this was a challenge as Zhang-zhong's English
is limited and my Chinese is non-existent. So, the plan is for Zhang-zhong to
spend around a month in Sydney attending English classes in July 2002.
I also did a lot of work with Zhang-zhong in helping him to walk using leg-braces and crutches. However, he had limited movement because the leg-braces go all the way up to a back-brace with hinges at each side. So, all he could really do was shuffle. But he persevered and made good progress.
All in all, we had a great time together and grew our father:son relationship enormously.
Zhang-zhong has four areas
of focus:
· learn English,
· learn to play tennis better,
· persevere with walking, and
· get a job, probably in 2003 after he has finished school.
I was introduced to Tsai, Tsung-Ta in March, 2000. Tsung-Ta contracted polio when he was three years old. Tsung-Ta lives at home with his mother, father, older brother and younger sister.
Tsung-Ta represented Chinese Taipei in swimming in the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta.
Tsung-Ta is now in his third year of a law degree. He studies very hard, going to cram school on a number of nights during the week as well as for twelve hours on Saturday and on Sunday mornings. I marvel at the effort and the commitment he is making to get his degree.
One time Tsung-Ta decided he wanted blue streaks in his black hair. So, I took him to the hairdressers and five hours later he had red streaks in his hair. He went back the following week and this time came out with blue streaks. Never again.
However, that was not as bad as Chi Won. Chi Won regularly changes his hair colour. On one trip to Australia, he turned up with bright blue hair. While he was in Sydney, he decided he wanted to change to yellow hair. I took him to the hairdresser and the treatment did not work and Chi Won came away with pink hair. Life is full of interesting moments.
Tsung-Ta always likes trying different things: visiting various museums, taking me sightseeing and eating different types of food.
In addition, when I spend time with Zhang-zhong and/or Tsung-Ta we do many things together including playing pool, going shopping, going to the movies and swimming.
Tsung-Ta is now twenty-one years old. Tsung-Ta drives a three wheel scooter to mix it with the millions of other scooters in Taipei.
Tsung-Ta is single-mindedly focussed on his law degree; one more year to go after this one. His ambition is to be a judge and I am sure that, with his determination, he will make it.
In many ways, Chi Won, Zhang-zhong
and Tsung-Ta are very similar:
· powerful upper bodies,
· very mobile - wheelchair or leg braces and crutches,
· incredibly independent, and
· strong willed.
During the time I have known them, I have been able to offer them different
things that they would not have been able to afford. They have also enjoyed
experiences they may never have had.
I am an alternate father-figure to them and a source of tender-loving-care.
I have gained a lot of pleasure encouraging them, supporting them and helping them with their self-esteem as well as their overall development.
They are disabled. But the limitation is that they cannot use their legs properly. Besides that, they have lots of ability and talent and that is where the focus is.
This is about giving others a chance to reach their potential in life.
Some interesting moments
· After a hard day
of tennis, Chi Won telling me that "all you do is push, push, push".
· A toddler seeing Chi Won pushing himself in his wheelchair after tennis
practice said to his father, pointing at the wheelchair, "car".
· Tsung-Ta pedalling with me on a pedalo on a lake in Taipei, using his
left leg with a little help from his hand.
· Zhang-zhong, upset by a drunk in a Karaoke bar, punching him from his
wheelchair.
· After me encouraging Chi Won to do more walking (wearing leg braces
and using crutches), Chi Won saying "all you do is push, push, push".
· While Chi Won was driving his car in Seoul, his response to me saying
"you drive fast" was "just like you".
· Sitting in the back of a taxi with Tsung-Ta and Zhang-zhong in Taipei
and the disabled driver, using hand controls, driving like a maniac in and out
of traffic at high speed.
· Sitting beside a disabled taxi driver in Taipei with the driver not
using hand controls but holding his leg on the pedal and moving it by hand from
accelerator to brake and back.
Footnotes
Special thanks to:
· Rebecca Teng who
found both Zhang-zhong and Tsung-Ta for me and acted as an interface and interpreter
between Zhang-zhong and myself.
· Michael Choi who has worked with Chi Won to provide additional guidance
as well as acting as an interface and occasional translator between Chi Won
and myself.
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