Pulling the cord on constraint

"My left ear rang and I could not hear with it. The next morning, I could not stand up and felt dizzy," Ye says.

Her condition did not improve, despite spending two weeks in a military hospital in Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu. She was sent to the Beijing Air Force Hospital where medics diagnosed her as suffering from sudden deafness.

Considering it a problem of the nervous system, they said her chances of regaining her hearing and standing up were 80 percent - if she had sought treatment the same day she fell sick. The chance of recovery was 50 percent if she came within one week after she fell sick. Unfortunately, her chance of recovery was very slim as it had been two weeks since she had taken ill.

"Doctors did not allow her to stand. But she learned to walk by leaning against the wall. Later, I gave her a helping hand when she practiced walking," says her husband Liang Yong, a fellow teammate in the August 1st Parachuting Team.

Liang, 40, is the oldest parachuter in the team. He has parachuted more than 11,000 times, more than any other parachuter in China. His wife Ye is in second place, having parachuted more than 10,000 times.

When Ye was discharged from hospital in late August 2001, she could walk normally, but was deaf in her left ear.

"Whenever I speak with her, I try to stand by her right side," Liang says.

Soon after returning to the team, Ye was asked to parachute again as the team was short of aces.