Running for love starts from the heart: entering the world of autistic runners with wholehearted health

Most autistic children are accompanied by intellectual disability, which affects their lives. About 90% of autistic children must be accompanied by their family members at all times. They are called star moms and star dads. They are scattered all over the country and from all walks of life and people. They face too many unspeakable hardships. Their originally happy families fell into darkness overnight when their children were diagnosed, but most of them chose to stay strong. right.

A large number of international examples have proven that the most effective way to alleviate autism is exercise, care and companionship. Through exercise, not only can the physical functions of autistic children be developed and strengthened, but also the brain can be positively stimulated. Stimulate, feel pleasure and comfort and maintain a good mental state;

In order to allow autistic families to integrate into society, get along happily with ordinary families, and help the children of the stars to open their hearts and get out of the lonely world, a Real runners integrate social love forces such as enterprises, training schools, healing institutions, and volunteers to use their extreme running performance art to arouse the world's attention and care for autistic people and families.

Deng Chao

◆ Founder of "Run for Love" Charity Marathon

◆ 2015 Guangzhou Marathon Promotional Ambassador.

◆ AIA Guangzhou Health Ambassador

An avid runner, a person full of love and positive energy, and a charity runner.

For Deng Chao, the meaning of life lies in love and memories, and everything else is just baggage.

Deng Chao said: Every life can bloom, and every life should have spring flowers blooming.

By chance, he noticed autism. But what really caught his heart was not the disease itself, but the fact that there are more than 14 million autistic patients in China. Imagine that an autistic patient affects at least 6 family members (father, mother, grandfather, Grandma, grandpa, grandma, etc.), which means that nearly 100 million people in the country live in pain and despair throughout their lives. However, one of these 14 people is a painful person. How many times have you met in your life? Because most autistic families are unable to have normal contact with society due to secular concepts and even social tolerance. Autism is not terrible, but what is terrible is the human heart. In other words, if you cannot get out of your inner world, a normal person People may be "autistic" people.

Shi Tiesheng said: This shore must be incomplete, otherwise the other shore will collapse.

Everyone has flaws, just like an apple that has been bitten by God. Some people have bigger flaws, precisely because God particularly likes their fragrance!

In the early spring of 2011, after Deng Chao ran his first marathon, the Beijing Marathon, a charity organization approached him and asked him to donate money to children with congenital heart disease. Deng Chao feels that such charity activities may not be sustainable. What he really wants to do is to influence more people to participate in practical love activities through running, and to pay attention to and care for these marginalized and vulnerable groups.

"Running for Love" has been running for eight years. One thing that needs to be emphasized is that at first, regular domestic marathon events did not accept independent registration by autistic runners. However, it is gratifying that after After years of hard work, some event organizing committees now not only accept autistic runners to independently sign up for city road marathons, but cross-country races have also begun to issue invitations to autistic runners who "run for love."

Whenever talking about autistic children, Deng Chao said the most often: "Every child is cute, we should give them more attention, care and love." Yes, autistic children seem far away from us, but in fact they are close to us. Rather than saying that they are far away from us, it is better to say that we are alienating them.

Autistic children show various behaviors such as language communication difficulties and social difficulties. Therefore, ordinary people will look at them strangely and even feel fearful of being hurt by them. But in fact, it is our The strange eyes hurt them and created a barrier between people.

Anyone who has watched "Forrest Gump" must have been moved by the perseverance of Forrest Gump, and there is a "Chinese Forrest Gump" in the "Running for Love" running group. He is able to Wu Zongtai, an older young runner with mental disabilities who completed the half marathon independently.

Through running, not only did Zongtai transform from a mentally retarded young man into a confident runner, but his mother, who was nearly sixty years old, also became a runner. Zongtai’s mother also led other autistic Parents of families with autism run together.

Especially in the Guangzhou Good Walker 50-kilometer cross-country race hosted by the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation last year, the "Run for Love" team that Zong Tai's mother participated in had an average age of 49.8 years old, the oldest among the more than 200 participating teams. , but the final result was ranked 26th, and successfully raised funds for the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.

Through "Running for Love", Zongtai's mother has transitioned from a mother of a mentally disabled child who was helped by others to a mother who works hard to help more marginalized vulnerable groups.

Deng Chao said: "This is a qualitative leap. For us, taking steps to run is because of love."

In Deng Chao's view, participating in a marathon is not about letting people win. These children are deliberately trying to prove something, "just to tell people that they can do anything that normal people can do."

Some media once asked Deng Chao if he wanted to achieve the purpose of raising funds through "Running for Love"?

"No, in fact, my bigger wish is not to raise funds! Because poverty and disability are not the basic reasons for a patient or a family to receive help from others, I would rather do something like "Running for Love" Art allows Xingxing’s children and families to return to mainstream society with dignity, and through the Xingma entrepreneurship plan, distressed autistic families can have a stable and happy life in the future. ”

In this love! On the road, Deng Chao seemed to be a missionary, using love to influence everyone he met, and said sincerely: Let us always be on the road, on the track, with tears in our eyes forever...

Talking about In the future, Deng Chao said that he would continue to run to protect the "children of the stars". He said that there are 525,600 minutes in a year, and they fly by quickly. What about that year? And what about the rest of his life? Can he use every minute of his life to run, to measure his own life, to protect the lives of the stars...