Profile | China ‘wheelchair anchor’ Liang Yi becomes first disabled TV host after spinal cord injury
Television personality who almost lost it all because of rare condition cites ‘perseverance and persistence’ as vital to overcoming challenges
Chinese television personality Liang Yi became China’s first “wheelchair anchor” despite a sudden illness taking away her health and bright future.
Born in central China’s Hunan province in 1979, in 2001 Liang became an anchor at Hunan TV, one of China’s most popular television channels for the following two decades.
She had a bright future, but just four months after starting the job, she suddenly lost consciousness while backstage preparing for a show.
Liang was diagnosed with a spinal cord vascular malformation, which ruptured and compressed her central nervous system and paralysed her.
The rare condition is believed to be congenital.
The 22-year-old Liang recovered feeling in her upper limbs following surgery, but was paralysed from her chest down.