14-9-2023 (BEIJING) Taking care of a bedridden loved one who requires constant attention is no easy task. Yet for Yang Zhiyang, a man from Shaanxi Province, taking care of his mother is what he does with a loving smile on his face.
Mr. Yang’s mother suffers from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, controlling muscle movement. For 12 years, the filial son has been taking care of her every day.
As his mother is unable to fend for herself, Mr. Yang feeds her, washes her, and takes her outside in a wheelchair for fresh air. Seeing how unendingly patient her son has been, Mr. Yang’s mother has nothing but gratitude for him.
Mr. Yang Zhiyang, 22, faced tough obstacles in his life since the young age of 10, reported Xinhua Net. At that time, doctors diagnosed his mother, Ms. Su Jing, with the rare incurable disease known as ALS. The fatal condition progressively degrades neurons and causes a gradual loss of the abilities to speak, swallow, move, and eventually breathe.
With his father working long hours to make money, the then 10-year-old Yang took on the responsibility. After returning from school, he would proceed to take care of his mother.
As she lost her ability to talk, she would communicate limitedly via texting on her phone. But over the past 12 years, Mr. Yang has learned to understand what his mother needs just through eye contact.
Her inability to control her facial muscles also means that Ms. Su can’t chew, so her son has to feed her by hand. Even when a bowl of rice takes an hour to finish, his patience never wavers. The young man’s astounding patience shines through other tasks too, such as assisting his mother in the toilet, brushing her teeth, and drying her hair.
Due to her illness, every minor task requires extreme care. Despite this challenge, Mr. Yang only sees the time he spends with his mother as precious, given the fatal outlook of ALS.
After graduating, he began to dedicate all his time to caring for his mother at home. To help mitigate the muscle degeneration, Mr. Yang assists her with daily exercises, even singing to her while doing so. Since Ms. Su loves beauty and cleanliness, Mr. Yang cleans the house every day on top of his other duties.
He also learned how to apply makeup for her, trim her eyebrows, and braid her hair. Although ALS took away his mother’s ability to walk, Mr. Yang brushes aside the inconvenience and takes her outside often in a wheelchair for shopping or salon treatments. His father even claimed that for 12 years, Mr. Yang cared for his mother so diligently that she never suffered a single bedsore.
