Disabled person becomes YouTuber with 410,000 subscribers

“You are paralyzed from spinal nerve damage caused by a cervical fracture. You will not be able to walk, nor will you able to move your fingers.”

The person’s last memory was clinking glasses with friends at a club to raise a toast to celebrate his becoming a full-time employee at a multinational fashion company. When he opened his eyes, his doctor broke unbelievable news to him. Park We, a then healthy 28-year-old young man who used to love playing soccer, sustained a deadly fall while intoxicated, and became paralyzed and wheelchair-bound overnight.

The author could have resented God or been frustrated by bad luck, but he found a miracle at the bottom of his life. After enduring a time of despair when he could not drink water due to airway intubation, or urinate or defecate on his own, he is grateful for the fact that he has family and friends who support him and that the trivial daily routine of eating ramen with chopsticks has become possible His book contains the process of the author discovering miracles in the midst of hardship for eight years since May 2014, when the accident occurred.

His perspective on the reality he is facing is astonishing. One day, he sat in a wheelchair after taking a shower and tried to pet his dog, but he fell to the floor naked. He could have felt miserable at that time, but the author took the occasion as an opportunity to practice climbing from the floor to the bed alone. Eventually, after two hours of struggle, he succeeded. And another day, envisioning of going beyond his limits, he pushed his wheelchair from the Han River Park in front of his home and traveled 11 kilometers, and after that, he got the courage to say, "I will be able to move 11 kilometers without anyone's help in the future."

He did not end with discovering his own miracles. The author started YouTube to give courage to people with disabilities and their families. In 2019, he opened a channel called ‘Weracle’ that combines his name ‘We’ and ‘Miracle,’ and the number of subscribers reached 410,000 in just three and a half years. From a 20-year-old young man diagnosed with paralysis due to an accident to a hair stylist who had his arm amputated, viewers find hope in despair from the stories he tells about the disabled.

The author, who was once filled with the obsession to walk again on his own legs, now says it doesn't matter even if he can’t walk again. “As what the doctor said, I may not be able to walk again forever,” he said. “But it doesn't matter to me anymore. The joy and happiness I’ve felt along the way with hope has already lifted me up.”


Jae-Hee Kim jetti@donga.com