1. [para. 1][para. 2] In a valley near Chongqing, Li Xia, a 37-year-old man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), owns five smart greenhouses but has never entered them due to late-stage paralysis, leaving him with only a thumb, a toe, his eyes, and his mouth to interact with the world. His mother, Wu Dimei, acts as his hands and feet, executing his instructions.
2. [para. 3][para. 4] Despite his severe physical limitations, Li Xia taught himself the Internet of Things, embedded system development, and smart farming. He verbally guides his mother to connect cables, solder circuit boards, and assemble devices, enabling the farm to transmit video, adjust temperature and humidity, and provide automatic shading.
3. [para. 5][para. 6] Li’s primary interface with the world is a homemade mouse controlled by his thumb and a toe sensor. On June 18, when the mouse broke, his mother repaired it under his instructions, illustrating their daily troubleshooting routine.
4. [para. 7][para. 8] Li monitors the greenhouses via a computer screen suspended over his bed. His mother’s mornings start with medical care: suctioning phlegm, administering medicine, changing ventilator water, and preparing breakfast, taking about three hours.
5. [para. 9][para. 10] Li’s container-ward doubles as a farm control room filled with hand-soldered circuit boards and hydroponic solutions. He designs the smart greenhouse management system shown on manually assembled screens, cutting costs by “hand-making” automation and writing code himself.
6. [para. 11][para. 12][para. 13] Physical tasks rely on his mother and hired day-wage workers. A 360-degree camera follows Wu wherever she goes; Li monitors her and calls if something seems off, though 2D screen views sometimes conflict with 3D terrain realities, leading to rework.
7. [para. 14][para. 15][para. 16] In early summer, Wu handles non-automated tasks like transplanting and harvesting. She injured her leg four years ago in a scooter accident but continued working. Chronic pain from a fracture and lumbar disc herniation makes her bend at a right angle during heavy labor.
8. [para. 17][para. 18][para. 19] When working, Wu is frequently called back by Li’s phone or alarm to help him use the toilet, suction phlegm, or adjust posture. During rare breaks, she falls asleep within minutes. She jokes that her life is like a life sentence, with no freedom until Li tells her to sleep.
9. [para. 20][para. 21] Li previously believed he would not live past 30, but after a near-death experience at 31, he survived paralyzed and on a ventilator. He learned to speak by inflating the ventilator’s airbag to vibrate his vocal cords.
10. [para. 22][para. 23] With his parents divorced and only his mother as a caregiver, Li needed an income. Using his programming interest, he invested their final 200,000 yuan in 2022 to build the smart farm, enduring fires, floods, and failures without giving up.
11. [para. 24][para. 25] A turning point came in late 2024 when media coverage opened sales channels. Li now livestreams nightly from 8:30 to 11 PM, selling farm products. Fans support him, with over 50 orders per night.
12. [para. 26][para. 27] The revenue subsidizes medical and living costs. Li dreams of modifying an RV with a ventilator to travel with his mother. A celebrity donated a used RV, and he received a battery-powered ventilator, hoping to take her to Beijing.
13. [para. 28][para. 29] Wu continues to labor between greenhouse and ward, longing for travel. Li’s heart aches but he focuses on improving technology and video traffic. He believes giving up would only make the future harder.
14. [para. 30][para. 31] The article highlights the catastrophic burden on DMD patient families in China, with aging parents as sole caregivers. Li compares himself to alligator weed, a plant with tenacious vitality that grows back no matter what.
AI generated, for reference only
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