Motherly love conquers all.
    Ji Pengfeng, who graduated from Taichung Special Education College, was diagnosed with Down syndrome three days after birth. Her single mother, Wu Yumei, was devastated, as if struck by a thunderbolt, and initially unable to face reality.
 
    Pengfeng has been frail and prone to illness since childhood, with congenital conditions including strabismus, astigmatism, amblyopia, a heart defect, and intellectual disabilities. By age three, he couldn’t walk, and by four, he couldn’t speak. It took him a full 12 years just to recognize the colors of traffic lights.
 
    Despite facing isolation and discrimination from peers during his education, Peng Feng never gave up on himself. He diligently learned to play the diabolo, the clay flute, the electronic keyboard, swimming, and running, proving the value of life!
The greatest contributor to Peng Feng's remarkable journey against the odds is his single mother, Wu Yumei. Wu Yumei cares for her son during the day and works at night to support the family. She has shouldered the heavy responsibility of raising her child while quietly overcoming breast cancer, setting an example for her son to live with hope.
 
    Peng Feng has achieved remarkable accomplishments, including winning first place in the “National Intellectual Disability Talent Competition” Central Region Preliminary Round for diverse performances in yo-yo, first place in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2016 National Disability Sports Championship, and first place in the 100-meter dash at the 2017 Zhongming Junior High School Anniversary Sports Meet. She has also obtained certifications in electronic keyboard street performance and 11 certifications in clay flute street performance and was honored with the President's Education Award for the Tang Baby category in the junior high school division.
 
    After joining the Tang Baby Grand Orchestra, Peng Feng has actively participated in over 100 charitable activities, including “Sending Love to Schools,” sharing life education in remote areas, and consistently delivering love to nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and orphanages.
 
    Thus, despite growing up in a disadvantaged family, Peng Feng transformed his mother's love into strength, overcame the challenges of a single-parent household, endured hardships, and persevered to overcome obstacles, creating endless possibilities in life. He has consecutively won first place in competitions such as yo-yo, swimming, and the 100-meter dash, and particularly cherishes the opportunity to spread love both domestically and internationally. Inspiring others with her own life story, embodying love and courage, spreading positive energy, and proving that everyone has a purpose in life. She was selected from 2,893 candidates recommended by people worldwide for the “Global Love for Life Award” and was honored with the “2021 24th Global Love for Life Award” by the Taiwan Zhou Daguan Cultural and Educational Foundation.
 
    Our foundation warmly welcomes recommendations from all corners of the world for individuals who embody effort, kindness, courage, and achievement as life warriors. (Taiwan Zhou Da Guan Cultural and Educational Foundation Global Love for Life Medal Recommendation Hotline: 886-2-29178770, Fax: 886-2-29178768 Address: 3rd Floor, No. 52 Mingde Road, Xindian District, New Taipei City 231, Taiwan Website: http://www.ta.org.tw, e-mail: ta88ms17@gmail.com).
 
An Unknown Future
    Ji Pengfeng, currently a second-grade student at Taichung Special Education School, was diagnosed with Down syndrome three days after birth.
 
    At the time, Pengfeng's mother was struck with horror, especially when she thought about her child's future, feeling immense pain and often shedding tears.
 
    Ji Pengfeng's mother grew up in the impoverished mountains of Zhongliao, Nantou County, where she endured hardships from a young age and overcame countless challenges. Yet she could not accept the idea that her child was different from others.
 
    Her once resilient nature crumbled under the weight of such despair, leaving her with a vacant stare, as if she had been plunged into an unprecedented darkness.
 
    Parents always welcome their children with anticipation and hope.
 
    All parents hope that their children will one day become pillars of the nation, elite members of society, or simply happy, ordinary working adults.
 
    Yet, the doctor's diagnosis shattered all their hopes into a fleeting illusion.
Before long, Pengfeng was about to turn one month old, and Pengfeng's mother could only gather the pieces of her broken heart.
 
    Driven by her maternal strength, she actively sought out special education institutions and took Peng Feng to early intervention therapy, taking on the responsibilities of motherhood.
 
    Peng Feng's early intervention therapy sessions were held during the day, and the financial burden on the family was significant. To secure more resources for Peng Feng's care, his mother took a night shift job with a higher salary, allowing her to accompany him to therapy sessions.
 
A Miracle from Heaven
    From infancy, Peng Feng was frail and frequently ill, with congenital conditions including strabismus, esotropia, astigmatism, amblyopia, a heart defect, and intellectual disabilities.
 
    The journey of rehabilitation was arduous, with minimal progress. However, Peng Feng's family spared no effort to seek additional medical assistance, such as qigong therapy and physical therapy.
 
    When Peng Feng was three years old, a common cold developed into pneumonia. Combined with his fragile constitution, this led to severe pulmonary edema.
 
    His already frail body could not withstand such an ordeal, leaving him in the intensive care unit, where doctors even issued a critical condition notice...
 
    At that time, his mother felt helpless and heartbroken, praying to heaven for a miracle to save Peng Feng and take all the pain upon herself!
 
    Heaven seemed to hear his mother's desperate pleas—Peng Feng miraculously pulled through and survived the life-threatening crisis.
 
The Challenges of Education
    After surviving a life-and-death struggle and overcoming numerous challenges in life,
 
    At the age when he should have started kindergarten, Peng Feng enrolled in the kindergarten attached to Taichung Deaf School for one year, then transferred to the integrated kindergarten program at Taichung Special Education School for two years.
 
    Originally, it was thought that he could complete kindergarten education smoothly, but unexpectedly, the gap between Peng Feng and his peers grew wider each year!
 
    Peng Feng's verbal skills showed no progress, and he couldn't do anything. This situation made his mother even more worried about whether to continue to first grade or enroll him in a special education program.
 
    After much deliberation, Peng Feng's mother consulted a speech therapist, who suggested starting directly with learning to recognize characters.
 
    Soon, Peng Feng was able to read the Zhuyin symbols and even spell words.
 
    This good news was a huge boost to his mother's confidence.
 
    With renewed confidence, the mother continued to accompany Peng Feng in his practice. Through this process, she also realized that there are no shortcuts for children with special needs. To see their children's progress, “there is only one way: practice, practice, and practice.”
 
One more day.
    Peng Feng finally enrolled in the resource class at Shang'an Elementary School in Xitun District, Taichung City.
 
    While the resource class had good intentions, it also had its shortcomings.
 
    By the second grade, Peng Feng had to be reassigned to a new class and change teachers. The students in the first and second grades were pure, kind, and adorable, but as the grades progressed, their self-awareness also grew.
 
    At this time, Peng Feng's mother, who had been working night shifts for a long time, was overworked and lacked sufficient sleep, leading to health issues—breast cancer!
 
    The panic and agony in Peng Feng's mother's heart resurfaced. Her greatest concern was what would happen to Peng Feng if she were to pass away.
 
    Peng Feng's mother made a decisive and brave decision to undergo surgery to remove the tumor, hoping to live one more day for her special needs child. Only by doing so could she have the chance to continue accompanying Peng Feng and face the challenges of life ahead.
 
The Impact of Peers
    After Peng Feng's health stabilized, his mother decided to become a volunteer at his school to better understand his learning environment. She actively supported the class's extracurricular activities.
 
    First, she wanted to alleviate the burden on the class teacher; second, she hoped to gain a closer understanding of Peng Feng's academic performance at school.
 
    Unfortunately, Peng Feng faced isolation and discrimination in his class.
 
    One day in the classroom, Peng Feng's mother asked a classmate to borrow the communication notebook to teach Peng Feng how to sign and write in it.
 
    After Peng Feng's mother returned the notebook to the classmate, the classmate threw it from the front row to the back!
 
    At the time, Peng Feng and his mother were deeply shocked, and they still feel uneasy about it to this day.
 
    Although the homeroom teacher assigned a helper to assist Peng Feng, the results were not significant.
 
    At the time, due to a lack of understanding of how to properly handle the situation and also out of fear that overreacting would make it even harder for Peng Feng to integrate into the class, they could only silently comfort and console him.
 
Bidding Farewell to the Shadows
    In sixth grade, the class arranged a field trip to the Wumao Farm as a graduation trip.
 
    In the evening, the school held a campfire party for the graduates, and all the students were happily holding hands in a circle.
 
    However, no one wanted to hold Peng Feng's hand, so his mother quickly took his hand to help him interact with his classmates.
 
    Unexpectedly, Peng Feng kept anxiously asking his mother, “Do we have class today?” Out of fear, Peng Feng dared not enter the classroom and hid instead.
 
    At that moment, his mother finally realized that Peng Feng's learning environment was so unfriendly, but she chose not to speak up or protest, allowing this final chapter of his elementary school life to quietly come to an end...
 
Helping Others · Carving Out a Bright Future
    Peng Feng attended the special education class at Zhongming High School during his junior high school years. The learning environment in the special education class allowed him to integrate smoothly into group life.
 
    There was a classmate with a rare disease whose mental age was approximately five years old. The kind-hearted Peng Feng helped him brush his teeth and wash his face every day during class, protecting and caring for him.
 
    Peng Feng's thoughtful, kind, and helpful nature, combined with the professional support of his special education teachers and a joyful learning environment, helped him regain his bright and sunny smile.
 
    When Peng Feng was in third grade, he watched his older sister practice diablo. He often took the diablo during her breaks and tried to imitate her movements. Over time, he developed an interest and joined the Diablo Club.
 
    In junior high school, to keep his newly developed interest and confidence going, his mom searched online for information about Coach He Zhiming and met with him to discuss things.
 
    The coach understood Peng Feng's special circumstances and the challenges of hand-eye coordination, but he was willing to give Peng Feng a try!
 
    This gave Peng Feng the opportunity to overcome his visual impairment, achieve great success in yo-yoing, and even obtain two street performance certifications.
 
    In the regional preliminary round of the 9th National Talent Competition for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, he won first place in the diverse performance category for yo-yoing.
 
Support from a clay flute mentor · Obtained 11 street performance certifications
    In fifth grade, while attending cognitive classes at the Down Syndrome Association, he happened to meet Mr. Lin Qitong in an elevator.
 
    Mr. Lin encouraged Peng Feng to join the ocarina class, and his mother accompanied him to learn how to play the ocarina.
 
    The posture of holding the ocarina and practicing the Do Re Mi scale seemed simple, but for Peng Feng, with his limited cognitive abilities, it was incredibly challenging!
 
    Although it was initially fun and filled with novelty, the teacher's expectations gradually increased—accurate notes and properly covered holes—a daunting challenge for someone with naturally short, stubby fingers.
 
    Every time he hit a roadblock, he felt discouraged, but under Mr. Lin's patient guidance, he came to believe that children aren't incapable of learning; they just learn slowly and forget quickly.
 
    Mom firmly believes that Pengfeng could master the phonetic symbols in kindergarten, and with continued perseverance, success is within reach!
 
    Just like Pengfeng's motto: “Only through constant practice, effort, and more effort.”
 
    After six years of dedicated learning, Pengfeng now holds 11 street performance certificates for the clay flute.
 
With love and courage, call me the best!
    Peng Feng overcomes obstacles every day, facing daily challenges with courage and optimism. His positive attitude earned him a recommendation from his school to participate in the Presidential Education Award selection process. True to expectations, Peng Feng won first place in the junior high school category of the Presidential Education Award!
 
    Peng Feng's mother said, “After more than a decade of unwavering support, being able to accompany my son to the Presidential Office to receive the President's commendation is the proudest moment of my life. I also deeply thank the mentors, classmates, and everyone who has helped Peng Feng along the way.”
 
Overcoming Obstacles · Spreading Positive Energy
    Peng Feng joined the Daqi Orchestra, founded by Mr. Lin Qitong, as an intern in 2016. In 2018, he was promoted to a full member and participated in the orchestra's charitable performances.
 
    She has visited primary, secondary, and university schools, as well as remote areas, to share life education. She has also visited nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and orphanages and even crossed borders to bring love to Japan and mainland China, spreading Taiwan's love to the world.
 
    Despite his young age, Peng Feng has already participated in over 100 charitable activities. Under the encouragement of Lin Qitong, he bravely pursued and obtained 11 street performer licenses for the ocarina.
 
    In places like the Nantou Snake Kiln and the Changhua Tienwei Highway Garden...and other locations, he has taken to the streets as a street performer. Not only has he donated the tips he has earned to charitable organizations, but he has also become self-reliant and even able to earn money to support his mother!
 
    Peng Feng has grown through adversity, remained strong in the face of storms, and persevered relentlessly, forging positive energy that overcomes obstacles and creates endless possibilities for life. He has become the best example of life inspiring life.
 

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