Courage in the Face of an Uncertain Future

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

The  New York Times

SANG LAN was in kindergarten in China when a recruiter from a state gymnastics school arrived to measure her arms and legs, just as he did with the other children. In her case, the numbers added up to the body of a potential gymnast -- and plucked her from one life into another.

By the age of 6, she was in gymnastics school in her hometown on China's southeast coast. By 8 she had moved four hours by car from her parents, who visited once a month. By 10, she was receiving a salary from the State Sports Commission. By 12, she was on the national team in Beijing, a two-hour flight from her parents, who by this time were visiting only twice a year. Far from feeling neglected, she was, in her culture, a young woman of great privilege -- supported by the state and chosen for a life of relative riches.

''It was a lot of work,'' Ms. Sang, 17, recalled this week in a friend's apartment in New York. ''But it was a very happy life.''

Among the rewards was a trip in July to New York for the Goodwill Games, the mini-Olympics started by Ted Turner during the 1980's boycotts of the real thing. Ms. Sang had dreams for Sydney in 2000. But on July 21, in a routine warm-up vault at the Nassau Coliseum, Ms. Sang landed hard on her head. The injuries to her spine were catastrophic; she was paralyzed from the chest down. She is not expected to recover the use of her legs.

Ms. Sang disagrees.

''I believe I will walk again,'' she said on Wednesday during an hourlong interview in the apartment of a friend, Winston Sie, in a modern high-rise on East 38th Street. ''This is all a big lesson.'' Not that there aren't dark times. ''Usually when I feel bad it's at night,'' she said. ''But I go to sleep and everything's better in the morning.''

Ms. Sang's accident was a terrible summer news story that developed into a tale of courage. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jimmy Carter and Jackie Chan visited her in the hospital; Celine Dion came by to sing ''My Heart Will Go On.'' Back home, Ms. Sang has become a media star, and has been offered a full scholarship to Qinghua University, the M.I.T. of China.

But here she is a persevering New Yorker whose life centers on rehabilitation and worries about her future. On Oct. 30, Ms. Sang was discharged from the Mount Sinai-New York University Medical Center. She now spends six hours a day in therapy at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine in Manhattan. Then she returns to her friend's apartment for tutoring in English, math and computer skills.

''I don't have time to think about what I'd like to do,'' Ms. Sang said, with Mr. Sie translating. ''I'm just following the schedule.'' Mr. Sie, 25, is a Chinese-American studying at New York University. His mother, Gina Liu, is an official of the Chinese Gymnastics Association.

MS. SANG talked while lying on a gym mat in the living room, although sometimes Mr. Sie helped her to a sitting position. Her mother, Xiufeng Chen, who works in a leather factory in China, was preparing dinner; her father, a government housing worker, has gone back to China. Ms. Sang has some use of her arms and wrists, and was happy to offer a cookie from her own hand. ''I like these,'' she said in English, amused. Ms. Sang still has the crisp body of a gymnast. From her neck up, she is vital, fearless and perceptive.

She cannot forget her accident. ''I remember,'' she said.

Does she wonder how or why it happened?

''We try not to let her think why,'' Mr. Sie said, not translating the question. ''If you start thinking why, then it's not going to be good.''

Ms. Sang spoke up in Chinese. ''Oh,'' Mr. Sie said, ''she understands.''

Ms. Sang went on to reply: ''Ask the same question of Christopher Reeve.''(She has spoken to the actor, who was paralyzed in a fall from a horse.) ''It was an accident. There's no 'why.' Christopher Reeve told me that his horse had done the jump over and over again. It never had problems with it. Why? It was just an accident. The same with me. My movement was easy. I can close my eyes and do it a million times.''

Ms. Sang added that she believes ''a lot of this is set up by God.''

''Yes, it's very unfortunate I had this accident,'' she said, ''but I wouldn't have come to know all these people. And I will give back what I can.''

Doctors say it is possible that future medical breakthroughs could restore Ms. Sang's ability to walk. ''But I can't tell if it's going to be 5 years, 10 years or decades away,'' said Dr. Kristjan T. Ragnarsson, Mount Sinai's chief of rehabilitation, who is treating Ms. Sang.

For now, friends have set up a trust fund for Ms. Sang's living costs and education in the United States; $80,000 has been raised, mostly in small donations from Chinese-Americans. (Her medical care and rehabilitation are so far covered by Goodwill Games' insurance, and she still receives her gymnast's salary from China, which comes to $78 a month.)

Dr. Wise Young of Rutgers University, one of the leading researchers on spinal injuries in the United States, is a trustee of the fund. He signed on after meeting Ms. Sang. ''She's a very, very bright girl,'' he said.

Ms. Sang said she misses China, and ''my father, my coaches, my teammates and my gym work.''

Published: November 13, 1998

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/13/nyregion/courage-in-the-face-of-an-uncertain-future.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm

Paralyzed Gymnast Dreams Of Walking

BY AUSTIN FENNER

Daily News

Monday, December 07, 1998

In her dreams, paralyzed Chinese gymnast Sang Lan is free of her wheelchair. She is walking. She feels the strength of her muscles bounding off the floor mats. She executes complex gymnastic moves with grace honed during 11 years.

Then she wakes up, paralyzed from the neck down.

But the 17-year-old doesn't let the disappointment of her first conscious moments destroy her morale Sang says the dreams are inspiration to overcome spinal injuries suffered at the Goodwill Games in July.

"I think everyone should have hope," Sang said through an interpreter last week in a high-rise apartment on Manhattan's East Side. "Otherwise, you can't make it through the day."

It's been more than four monthssince a routine vault ended in tragedy for Sang on July 21. She landed on her head, crushing vertebrae and damaging her spinal cord.
The young athlete whose plight touched the city is now an outpatient at the Rusk Institute, where she receives physical therapy. She and her mother live in an apartment donated by Winston Sie, 25, a financial analyst whom Sang calls her "adopted brother."

Though doctors say her injuries are permanent, Sang is determined to walk again. She flings her arms to say hello and clutch Barbie dolls, and has some motion in her biceps, triceps and wrist.

Sitting on a black leather couch, Sang showed off her glowing smile while playing with dolls but winced with pain as she struggled for a better grip.

For someone who could once perform daring physical feats effortlessly, mundane tasks are now challenges.

Sang and Sie who met after the accident have formed a strong bond. He helps her drink and eat, even helping remove a particle of food from her teeth during a recent interview.
The gymnast spends the rest of her time listening to Chinese music, learning English and learning her way around a computer keyboard. And she's had good reason to learn about the Internet so far, she has received more than 5,000 E-mail messages at her Web site, www.goodwillforsanglan.com.

Inspired by actor Christopher Reeve's fight to overcome spinal injuries suffered in a horseback-riding accident, Sang has become involved in the fight to increase awareness of her condition.
She recently attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a state-of-the-art spinal cord research center at Rutgers University in New Jersey, a facility that is expected to leapfrog spinal cord injury research.

"I had a dream last night," Sang said in English during the reception. "I was able to walk again. It was so beautiful."

Now, Sang is gearing up for her first Christmas.

"We are going to do something special for her," Sie said. "She never celebrated Christmas in China. She understands Christmas but doesn't get the feeling."

Although the Goodwill Games' insurance policy covers Sang's treatment, she still counts on donations for living expenses. So far, she has received more than $100,000.

Donations may be mailed to Good Will for Sang Lan, P.O. Box 852, Armonk, N.Y. 10504.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/1998-12-07/news/18089068_1_spinal-cord-chinese-gymnast-sang-lan-dreams

New 1st 'Steps' For Gymnast

BY TARA GEORGE AND DON SINGLETON

Daily News

Sunday, November 01, 1998

Paralyzed Chinese gymnast Sang Lan awoke yesterday in an East Side apartment, ate a breakfast of noodles and got started toward the No. 1 goal of her life learning to walk again.

The first of many milestones was a trip to a nearby supermarket, where Sang smiled from her wheelchair as she gestured with her arm at items she wanted.

"It's like it's the first day of my life again," she exulted during the trip, squinting as the sun shone on her face and illuminated the three barrettes in her hair and the big, round jade medallion that hung from her neck.

"I can go out when I want to without the constraint of the hospital."

Lying on a bed in the spacious 25th-floor duplex on W. 38th St., the indomitable 17-year-old athlete instructed her father in the proper techniques for working the muscles of her legs.

Tomorrow, rehabilitation specialists at the Rusk Institute will take over and Sang is determined not to stop working until she's walking on her own.

Living space for Sang and her mother is being donated by Sang's friend Winston Sie, 25, a Hong Kong-born financial researcher at Paine Webber.

Doctors have said the paralysis that resulted from Sang's accident at the Goodwill Games in July is permanent, but Sang clings to the hope shared by paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve, who believes science will figure out how to repair damaged spinal cords.

"We have to keep her muscles up and ready," Sie said, "so if medicine comes in five or 10 years, she'll be ready."

Doctors at Mount Sinai were amazed at the spirit and energy of the 77-pound gymnast, who broke her neck while warming up. Though she can move her arms, she has no control of her fingers. Yet she was able to learn to comb her hair, brush her teeth and dress herself.

In the hospital, nurses turned her over regularly, but at Sie's apartment, she'll sleep in an "automatic turning bed" that uses air pressure to roll her body into different positions.
Sang's father will return to China today because the family can't afford to rent an apartment for the duration of Sang's treatment. The Goodwill Games' insurance policy covers her treatment while she's here.

To date, $80,000 has been donated to a fund for Sang. Donations may be mailed to Good Will for Sang Lan, P.O. Box 852, Armonk, N.Y. 10504.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/1998-11-01/news/18078771_1_paine-webber-goodwill-games-sang-lan

Chinese Gymnast Heads Home

BY K.C. BAKER

Daily News

Monday, May 24, 1999

Paralyzed gymnast Sang Lan bid a bittersweet farewell to her friends in New York as she jetted home yesterday to an uncertain future in China.

"Saying goodbye was very hard," said Manhattan resident Winston Sie, whose family took in the 17-year-old athlete after she broke her back at the Goodwill Games last year. "She was like my sister."

The plucky gymnast, who won New Yorkers' hearts with her positive attitude, said her goodbyes yesterday morning at the Westchester County Airport in White Plains.
Sang is traveling with her mother, Chen Xiufeng, and Sie's parents, K.S. and Gina Liu.
The Lius will oversee her care in China, Sie said. They found her an apartment across the street from the China Rehabilitation and Research Center and made it handicapped-accessible.

Still, life in China won't be easy for Sang. "She was crying over my shoulder last night because she was scared," Sie said. "This is the first time I have ever seen fear in her. She is happy to be reunited with her family, but she doesn't know what will happen."
Sang fears she may be more homebound than she was in the U.S., Sie said. "China doesn't have the facilities for disabled persons that the U.S. does, which is going to be very difficult for her," Sie said.

She is hopeful of returning to New York, if only for scheduled annual checkups at Mount Sinai Medical Center. And Sie said his young friend dreams of attending college in the U.S.