Train Crash Survivor Finds Healing Helping Others

At 13 years old, Mengjun grabbed an overhead luggage rack as her train carriage was rammed from behind, watching the world collapse around her. She survived the 2011 Wenzhou train collision that killed 40 people and injured nearly 200 more, but the real battle was just beginning.

The crash left more than physical scars. Mengjun developed insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and tic disorder that followed her for years. The thunderstorm that evening, the screams, the injured bodies—these memories never stopped haunting her.

Then came another blow. While graduating high school, she was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, affecting just one in 30,000 people in China. The chronic condition brought pain, weight fluctuations, and constant embarrassment about rushing to the bathroom.

For years, Mengjun carried shame from both her trauma and her illness. Relatives were unkind during her recovery. Her dream of becoming a civil servant evaporated because of her diagnosis. She felt like she shouldn't have survived at all.

Why This Inspires

Everything changed when Mengjun joined the China Crohn's & Colitis Foundation in Hangzhou. Meeting other IBD patients gave her something she'd been missing: purpose and community.

She discovered that many patients hide their illness, trapped by shame over unpredictable symptoms. So she decided to become what she calls "a lighthouse"—living proof that people with IBD can open up and live without shame.

Now 28, Mengjun volunteers to give hope to others fighting the same battle. Through the foundation's activities, she found that helping fellow patients helped her own wounds finally start to heal. She learned a simple but powerful truth: being ill wasn't her fault.

Her story has touched thousands online. "That evening's thunderstorm still lingers on her mind, but she also keeps grabbing that rack above her to reach the sunlight and brings sunlight to other people," one person wrote.

Fifteen years after the worst day of her life, Mengjun has transformed her pain into a gift for others who need to know they're not alone.