A young handicapped livestreamer has overcome his disability to become a rising star in the e-sports world, gathering hundreds of thousands of followers and earning a respectable stable income to support his family in a remote village of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Sa Ye, who suffers from congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD), is now making a name for himself as an e-sports live broadcast anchor, putting on shows for over 380,000 followers and earning more than 10,000 yuan (about 1,500 U.S. dollars) a month from his passion.

Sa has just turned 18 this year, an age when he is supposed to be studying for college entrance examination, but he was forced to drop school after only a year of primary school education because of his worsening health condition. Over the past 10 years, his parents have taken him to one hospital after another across the country but have never found an effective treatment plan for his muscular dystrophy. As Sa cannot go anywhere without help, his parents decided to stay in the quiet local village to take care of him rather than go to work in busy cities.

"My son could stretch his arms and legs straight when he was not able to stand up in the early stage of his illness, but now he can only do half of what he was able to do by moving his arms and legs. We used to carry him on our backs when we did farm work when he was little. As he grew taller, we cannot carry him anymore, so we left him in the house and gave him a mobile phone to kill time," said Sa's father Sa Yuquan.

With his poor physical condition and the rough environment of his village making it inconvenient for Sa to venture out, playing with a mobile phone became the only way for him to kill time and have fun. Sa really wanted to reduce the burden on his parents, as their meager income by doing farm work was hardly enough to cover the expense of his medical treatment, but he would soon find his niche.

Sa grew fond of playing e-sports games on the mobile phone, as the only part of his body that could move normally is his fingers. Later on, he touched on e-sports live broadcasts on the Internet, and unexpectedly more and more online viewers followed his channel. He formally became an e-sports live broadcast anchor in early 2019 when a live streaming platform and some donors sent him a desktop computer set as a present.

Now Sa has attracted about 380,000 followers in nearly two years since he entered into e-sports. As a team leader, he often led his team to win competitions, while as an individual player, he has won several well-known e-sports competitions and has participated in exhibitions together with several e-sports celebrities.

While a big star in the virtual world, in real life his studio is only a rough room with no other furniture other than a low table, computer and a mobile phone, which takes him from the remote village onto the online world.

His family feels really relieved and proud that the young man has found a way to pursue his dreams. Some netizens offered to donate money after knowing about his tough situation, but Sa has declined their offer.

"I'll prove that I can take some burden off my family through my own effort and I'm as capable as any other people to make money. It seems receiving donation is like asking for money from others, which does not feel good. I don't want people to think that I am different from others, and then to show pity on me. I don't need others to help me with something that I can manage myself. I'll exercise my body to manage these things," said Sa.

At first, Sa did not earn much money by doing live broadcasts, but now he can earn more than 10,000 yuan (about 1,500 U.S. dollars) a month. He can not only afford his sister's tuition fees, but also save some money for his family. Gradually he has built up his self-confidence and found his own value, as he has become the family's main source of income instead of a burden.

"I'll try my best to change the situation of my family, so that my family will live a better life. I'll work hard to bring income to my parents and to support my sister to finish her study in the university. I'll do my best, remain positive and enjoy life as much as I can. I will manage my business well, because I believe I'm as capable as other people. I'm fine as long as I'm positive about life and love my life," said Sa.

Although Sa is now able to improve the life of his family through his hard work and has more self-confidence, his father has never stopped worrying about his illness.

In August this year, Sa went to a hospital in Chengdu City in southwest China's Sichuan Province, for a re-examination with the help of a netizen. Despite the fact that the doctors could not cure his illness and he can only slow down the illness's progression by taking pills, he accepted the examination results and remains content with life.

The family was allocated a new apartment this year thanks to the support of the national relocation policy for poverty alleviation. Recently Sa's father took him to see their new house, which represents a new starting point for their new life.