If you’re skeptical, here’s how the “ball girl” looks now, a decade after her viral photo took the internet by storm.
Being abandoned at birth because you are not as expected must be something very traumatic. Little Qian Hongyan, from the Yunnan region of China, knows this very well .
Qian was abandoned at birth because she came into the world without legs. This little girl found herself in the world without legs and without parents to take care of her. However, her fate, which she presumed miserable, was going to give her and the entire world many surprises.
After being abandoned by her parents for being born without legs, Qian Hongyan was adopted by a family.
His new parents, unfortunately, did not have enough money to pay for prosthetics for his legs to help him walk. However, they did not give up, and the grandfather devised a way for the little girl to move around.
He cut a basketball and made two wooden handles for the hands, and with those tools he showed his granddaughter how it could move.
From that moment on, she began to be known as the “ball girl.”
Her image, with the ball in the lower part of her body, went viral on the internet and many people began to make donations so that they could buy the girl the prostheses she needed to walk.
Qian said that, after the help, starting to use the prostheses was not easy, but she was persistent and did not give up until she managed to fulfill her greatest dream: walking.
But this little fighter also revealed that she wanted to learn to swim . It was not easy for her but, with great effort and tenacity, she not only learned but she managed to do it so well that she qualified for the National Paralympic Games in 2009. And she has not fared at all! bad since then!
He now competes professionally and has won several championships, which has allowed him to earn money.
Qian confesses that it has not been a bed of roses for him to learn to swim or walk, but that the secret is not to give up. And life more than repaid him for his efforts.
Now Qian has received a prototype of legs that look truly real.
Qian is an example of improvement and struggle. A living and precious proof that the will is the strongest thing in life.
