'Folded boy' begins new lease of life

Jiang Yanchen walks with the aid of a walker on Aug 25, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Jiang Yanchen, known as the "folded boy" due to a rare condition that left him in a folded position for years, is beginning a new chapter of life after a series of complex surgeries and successful rehabilitation, China News Service reported. Jiang is now able to straighten his body and walk with the aid of a walker, and has been discharged from hospital on Tuesday.

Born in 2004 in Shandong province, Jiang has fought against congenital muscle disorder that left his neck bent backward and the upper body folded in a "Z" shape since his primary school years. The severe back bending of his spine extremely narrows the chest and abdominal cavities, squeezing his organs into a confined space. The width between his head and spine was once no thicker than the size of a hand.

While some medical experts predicted that Jiang would not live past the age of 13, he never surrendered to fate. With the help of his mother Yu Meiying, teachers and classmates, Jiang battled his way through high school and completed the national college entrance exam while lying on a yoga mat. He was admitted to Dezhou University in 2022, as reported by Xinhua News Agency.

However, Jiang's condition continued to deteriorate after starting university. In May 2023, Jiang, who was experiencing breathing difficulties due to deformities, traveled to Beijing for treatment and was diagnosed with a severe spinal retroflexion deformity, identified as a rare congenital muscular dystrophy caused by a genetic mutation. As the first case of its kind to be reported worldwide, there was no proven treatment for Jiang, however he did not give up.

In 2024, after learning about Liang Yijian, a leading expert in severe spinal correction at Chengdu BOE Hospital, Jiang decided to go to Chengdu and seek treatment from Liang. Liang devised a multi-stage surgical plan to straighten Jiang's spine. The surgeries, conducted between December 2024 and June 2025, corrected Jiang's spine by approximately 170 degrees, allowing him to stand upright for the first time.

As the start of the new school year approaches, Jiang is about to return to the campus he has been longing for and has already drafted a preliminary plan for his graduate school entrance exams. "For my graduate study, I want to get enrolled in a university based in Chengdu, where I started a new chapter of my life," he said.