Rather than calling it a heart‑stirring miracle, it’s more accurate to describe it as a story of familial love, in which the older sister—12 years his senior—has shouldered the responsibility of holding her family together. On August 26, even the younger brother, Zhuang Shisuo, admitted in an interview with a reporter from Anhui Business Daily’s multimedia platform that, to this day, his sister still takes care to buy him new clothes. “She’s the best sister in the world,” he said. These past few days, the brother and sister in Chuzhou City have been caring for…

　　The story of a “vegetative‑state” mother who was brought back to consciousness after more than two months has moved netizens across the country. Yet behind this event, hailed as a “miracle” by the People’s Daily, lies a decades‑long tale of family hardship. It was the elder sister, Zhuang Yilin, who, over roughly thirty years of relentless effort, gradually pulled her family out of poverty, step by step, until April 26 this year, when their mother was diagnosed with a meningioma. Since her hospitalization, medical expenses totaling over 500,000 yuan have once again cast a shadow over a household that had only just begun to see a glimmer of hope. Still, Sister Zhuang Yilin remains optimistic, reassuring herself: “When the boat reaches the bridge, it will find its way; there is no road we cannot walk.”

　　1. Just thinking about the future makes my head spin.

　　Shi Baoying, who is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the Zijin Hospital in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province (Jiangning Branch), knows that over the past two months, it was her two children—her knees and below—who helped her narrowly escape death. Waking up, however, is only the first step in her recovery; she still has a long road ahead. What will become of her mother? Who will take care of her? These are the biggest challenges facing the brother and sister. “Just thinking about what comes next makes my head spin,” said Zhuang Yilin on August 26, sounding deeply helpless. The two options she had previously considered now seem fraught with obstacles. “One possibility is to stay in Nanjing—I’ve even discussed it with my younger brother, suggesting we have Mom live with us—but who would provide the care?” Zhuang Yilin had planned to cover the expenses herself and rely on her sister-in-law to look after their mother, but that route has proven unworkable. The other option is to send their mother back to their hometown, which would require her younger brother to return…

　　Home. “What’s my younger brother doing back in our hometown? Even with a job and an income, he still doesn’t earn much more than we do in Nanjing. And Mom will still need a substantial amount of money for her recovery going forward.” Zhuang Yilin could only console himself: “Mom still has to stay in the hospital for over a month—things will work out when the time comes!”

　 　II. I have never once thought of giving up.

　　Shi Baoying was diagnosed on April 26 this year. Prior to that, she had been complaining of blurred vision. The situation grew most severe after the Spring Festival: her eyes could barely distinguish light. At the time, relatives took her to the town hospital for an IV drip, but there was no sign of improvement. In mid-April, Zhuang Yilin urged his younger brother to bring their mother to Nanjing for treatment. While staying at his daughter’s home, Shi Baoying suddenly developed a severe headache. Zhuang Yilin asked his wife to take her to a nearby hospital. A CT scan revealed a shadow in her brain, leading to a preliminary diagnosis of a meningioma. Doctors explained that the tumor was pressing on nerves and impairing her vision, necessitating an urgent transfer to a larger hospital for prompt surgery. From diagnosis to surgery, the siblings did not dare waste a single moment. The operation took place on April 30, but afterward, Shi Baoying suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and remained in a coma. “The doctors tried every possible treatment, but my mother never regained consciousness,” Zhuang Yilin recalled. Even at a rehabilitation hospital later, the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score was only 4 out of 15, indicating an extremely low chance of recovery. During that period alone, medical expenses exceeded 390,000 yuan—“not only exhausting our savings, but also forcing us to borrow heavily from relatives and friends.” At one point, family members even urged the siblings to give up, speaking very gently. Yet Zhuang Yilin, stubborn as ever, refused to yield. He held on not only because he was deeply grateful to his mother for raising him and his brother, but also because, in his view, she was the strongest bond between them.

　　III. A Misfortune That Destroyed a Happy Life

　　Originally, they had a happy family. Zhuang Yilin knew that a tragic event had shattered her father and, in turn, destroyed everything the family once held dear. When her parents were still together, thanks to her father’s hard work, they had been a contented household. But then, one of Zhuang Yilin’s younger brothers died in a medical accident, dealing a devastating blow to her father. “After that, he fell into despair,” she recalls, and the family began to crumble. Even when her second younger brother, Zhuang Shisuo, was born, it failed to lift her father’s spirits. In a fit of anger, her mother decided to divorce him. At the time, Zhuang Yilin was just a teenager. Every day, Shi Baoying would pedal her tricycle to a factory more than twenty kilometers from home to earn a living. Her job was to tear open cement bags, using scissors to cut the threads at the seams—earning only one cent for each bag, which meant she’d scrape together ten or eight yuan a day. The process inevitably exposed her to cement dust and grime; watching her mother return at the end of the day looking like a “gray‑clad figure,” Zhuang Yilin could only imagine the ache in her heart. From that moment on, she stepped into the workforce, becoming the family’s backbone. “At first, I worked as a seamstress back home, making only four or five hundred yuan a month,” Zhuang Yilin says. She set aside just over a hundred yuan for her own expenses each month, sending the rest to her family. This arrangement continued until her younger brother graduated from high school. “I’m twelve years older than him, so I treated him like a little kid—buying him all sorts of things, even a game console sometimes,” she adds with a smile. Zhuang Shisuo remembers that the family’s very first television and its first telephone were gifts from his sister, and that her earnings paid for all his subsequent tuition. “It was all driven by necessity,” Zhuang Yilin admits. She explains that her refusal to give up on her mother’s treatment also stems from her own experience: “I’ve never been one to walk away.”

　　IV. She made the best possible plan.

　　Zhuang Yilin is meticulous and has been carefully planning for her family’s future. When they first transferred to Nanjing Zijin Hospital, the doctors told her that her mother might wake up within one to three months. If she remained unconscious after three months, she could be left in a vegetative state indefinitely. The wait was agonizing, so the siblings began taking turns providing round-the-clock care: her sister worked during the day and, after work, brought her child to the hospital to look after their mother; her brother proactively asked his supervisor to assign him as many night shifts as possible, spending his daytime breaks at the hospital by her side. After a month, there was still no sign of improvement. Although the family had endured countless arguments and misunderstandings due to the enormous expenses of her mother’s treatment, Zhuang Yilin kept telling herself that it wasn’t yet time to give up—three months hadn’t passed yet. She also encouraged her younger brother, knowing full well that none of them could afford to lose anyone. Still, Zhuang Yilin had prepared for the worst. “I’ve thought about what would happen if, after three months, my mother still hadn’t regained consciousness,” she said. Even when the doctors first explained her mother’s condition, she secretly searched online for information on how to care for someone in a vegetative state at home and what equipment would be needed. “My plan was this: if she never woke up, I’d bring her back to our house.” “I also want to thank my boss,” she added. Zhuang Yilin currently works in sales at a local furniture and building‑materials market. Her employer agreed that, should that day come, she could leave work at any time to go home and tend to her mother.

　　V. The road ahead is still long.

　　Fortunately, Shi Baoying regained consciousness under the careful care of her siblings, Zhuang Yilin and his sister. “We not only had to turn her over and wash her body, but also talk to her,” said Zhuang Yilin. During this time, Zhuang Shisuo even played all sorts of music that their mother loved. “I even tried to rouse her—deliberately saying, ‘Mom, please wake up soon! Do you really want to drive us into bankruptcy?’” Zhuang Yilin recalled clearly. Around mid-June, while caring for her mother at night, she noticed her eyes open—but not in the way a healthy person would. From then on, Shi Baoying’s condition gradually improved. Later, when Zhuang Yilin spoke to her mother from the left side of her bed, her head would tilt slightly to the left; if he spoke from the right, her head would slowly turn to the right. “We were thrilled, our minds filled with the thought: ‘Mom is back!’” The subsequent miracles soon became widely known. Today, Shi Baoying can sit up and even get out of bed to walk slowly. Liu Yafeng, the attending physician and head of Ward 104 at Nanjing Zijin Hospital, told a reporter from Anhui Business Daily that the patient is recovering well and that next week they will assess whether it’s possible to remove the tracheostomy tube. Liu emphasized that, for a 65-year-old patient, such rapid recovery within two months is largely due to the dedicated efforts of Zhuang Yilin and his sister. However, after discharge, the patient will still face a long road to full visual recovery. To keep up this remarkable progress, the siblings will need to continue putting in even greater effort.

　　Anhui Business Daily multimedia reporter Tao Wei / Text; Xing Junpeng / Photos

　　Source: Anhui Business Daily

　　Original Title: “After the Miracle of Her Vegetative-State Mother’s Awakening, the Road Ahead Is Still Long—The Best Older Sister Prepares for the Worst”