From Begging to Healing: The Journey of a Polio Survivor Who Became a Doctor

Henan China, Pikirkan.com – At 37 years old, Dr. Li Chuangye stands as a symbol of resilience and hope for millions online. Once a child beggar suffering from polio, he defied a life of despair to become a doctor—a journey that began with pain, humiliation, and an unshakable will to rise above adversity.

Born in 1988 in a poor farming family in Henan Province, Li contracted polio when he was just seven months old. The illness left him unable to walk, forcing him to move around by crouching. As a child, he often watched other children head to school with backpacks—something he longed to experience but never could. Instead, he endured ridicule. Some children called him “trash,” saying he was “useless and only knew how to eat.”

“It hurt me deeply,” Li recalled.

When he was nine, Li’s parents learned that surgery might help him walk again. They borrowed a large sum of money, clinging to the hope that their son could one day stand on his own feet. “While other children cried in the hospital, I smiled,” Li said. “I believed I would soon walk like everyone else.”

But the operation failed. Li’s dream of walking was shattered, and he sank into depression. Feeling worthless, he once told his mother that he would rather die.

His mother’s words changed everything: “We raised you so that when we are old, we will still have someone to talk to.”

That simple plea gave Li strength. “I thought about how much my parents had sacrificed for me. I cried for hours and realized I had to live—not just for myself, but for them,” he said.

Li Chuangye broadcast his ascent to thousands of people online. (Foto: Li Chuangye )

Soon after, a man from another city came to their village, claiming to offer work to children with disabilities selling incense at temples. He promised Li an income equal to his father’s monthly wage.

“My parents were against it,” Li said. “But I saw it as a chance to help my family and ease their burden.”

The promise turned out to be a cruel deception. Li said the man was running a begging syndicate that exploited children with disabilities.

For the next seven years, Li was forced to beg on the streets alongside other disabled children. On his first night, one of the boys warned him: “If you don’t work hard, you’ll be beaten.” The warning proved true.

“The next morning, they left me shirtless on a sidewalk,” Li recalled. “They twisted my legs behind my back to make me look more pitiful. That was how I learned to survive.”