When he was 47 years old, the devil found him and his world had since fallen into darkness instead of brightness.

Possessing a Master's degree, Li Yuan Sheng used to be an executive manager in the F&B industry.

While he was working, his eyes were hit against the door by his staff who pushed the door hard. Since then, he was plunged into the world of darkness and had but to give up his well paying job and put himself through a totally unfamiliar life.

He almost reached the pinnacle of his career but all of a sudden fell to the bottom of the valley due to the accident.

That was indeed a dramatic change that few ordinary people could accept. At that time, many people thought he was going to be knocked down by his painful experience. However in the midst of sympathy, Li decided that he would fight his destiny and chose go on his life with his beloved family despite the rugged journey ahead.

Determined to overcome obstacles

Although he lost his eyesight, he determined to become a big-hearted person who would live his life freely, happily and cheerfully.

He cried deep inside his heart: "I must stand up and walk by myself in spite of the obstacles ahead of me!"

By holding a strong mind, he has been living cheerfully throughout these years and is currently involving himself actively in social organisations while encouraging other disabled people with his past experiences and helping them fight for the welfare they deserve. He has painted a colourful rainbow into his ordinary life.

Injured by swing door

Li's eyes and nose were injured by a staff who pushed the swing door hard in the kitchen at a Port Dickson hotel in September 2005. He suffered from a powerful pain and it was hard for him to breathe while his tears drained from his eyes continuously, making him feel dizzy.

But he soon found that he was still able to see.

50-year-old Li said during an interview with Sin Chew Daily that he felt some slight pain in his eyes the following morning. As a result, he went to the eye clinic for examination and the doctor told him his eyes were not bleeding and it should be alright.

"However the problem was not that simple. A few days later, my eyes were suffering from an increasingly intense pain and I got bloodshot eyes. I hurried to the National Eye Specialist Centre in KL and the it was found that both my eyeballs were broken and they were bleeding."

He recalled that even if the doctor had cleaned the bloodshot with some medicine, the conditions of his eyes were not improved. He was forced to go through an operation in November to draw out the blood stasis as he could become blind if the blood stasis became sclerosis.

Failed to save his eyes

"The doctor told me that there was a high percentage of success in the operation and I always thought that my eyes would get recover soon but in the reverse it has become worsen as my vision has become increasingly blurred.

He pointed out that he went through four operations altogether and had tried many medications. Nevertheless, they didn't help and he became blind in mid-2007.

He said optimistically that during the operations, he planned for the worst and began to accept the fact that he might become blind.

He did not blame anybody but had instead thought of ways to make up for his loss of eyesight.

As a result, he started to enroll himself in a special computer class and learned how to live as a blind man.

Get up after fall

Li said he was able to walk out of sadness in a very short time because two of his elder sisters and his elder brother were all blind people. Having lived with them, he has obtained a clear picture of the life of blind people.

He believed he would be able to stand up after the fall as there were role models before him.

But at the same time he had to face the financial problem of his family as he had lost his lucrative job after the accident. All his family's savings had been used up to pay his operation fees.

Tide over crisis with wife

At last, he settled down with the support of his better half and insurance compensation. He opened a trading and consultation firm with part of the money while setting up a counselling centre on the first floor of his shop for disabled people.

Li hopes he is able to build up the confidence of his disabled friends by assisting them to cope with their social lives and helping them applying for welfare benefits from the government.

According to him, the earlier disabled people receive psychological counselling, the greater the hope for them to involve themselves again in the community.

He also hopes that he would be able to open a computer class and a cooking class for disabled people to learn some skills. However, due to limited fund, he only could afford a simple activity centre for the time being. (Translated by LIM LIY EE/Sin Chew Daily)