For nearly two decades, his wife, 44, became his full-time carer. Through it all, she never gave up hope.

“I am his legs. And he is the pillar of my family,” she told Pear Video, a mainland media company.

She raises chickens, pigs and grows mushrooms to support their family.

Deng, who has lived in a wheelchair since the accident, started practising embroidery after attending a training course by the county’s disabled persons’ federation two years ago.

“No matter how bad the weather was, I went there every day for the six-week-long training,” he said.

“After acquiring the skills, I felt delighted. As people say, taste bitterness first and then sweetness will come,” he said in a video report by Pear Video.

Wan, who was just 25 when Deng lost his ability to move his lower body after a coal mine accident in 2002, has remained beside her husband as he tried to learn each new skill.

She routinely helps Deng turn over, clean and massage his body, wash his face and cook for him.

Speaking about his wife, Deng said: “I tried everything to ease my wife’s burden.”

Wan starts her day at 4am every day and never complains, said Deng’s father, Deng Yiming.

“She carries him up and down the stairs. She is nice to us, and never gets angry at my son,” the old man said.

The younger Deng is also very grateful and often says nice words like “thank you for your hard work” to her. He said he could only pay his wife back in the next life.

“Be assured. You are my wife in this life, and next life I will be your wife,” he told Wan.

The Dengs were removed from the poverty-stricken family list by the local government in 2016 as they made a total income of nearly 70,000 yuan (US$10,800) per year.

The couple are a common subject of local newspapers and have won multiple awards commemorating their bravery and kindness.

Among the honours, Deng was named “Zhongxian’s Role Model of Self-improvement” and Wan was “Chongqing’s Most Beautiful Woman in the Alleviation of Poverty Effort”.