SUKHOTHAI: Left paralysed from the waist down after a road accident five years ago, Siprai Pathon refuses to give up, and still takes care of her young son and ailing mother.
The 38-year-old spends most her time in bed at her house in Sawankhalok district. When she has to move she needs a wheelchair, with help from her son.
Her husband divorced her and married another woman after the accident, leaving her with their young boy, now aged 8 years, and her unwell mother.
Mrs Siprai said she decided to learn how to knit, and makes key rings, small dolls and flowers, to earn money to keep her son, Nong Khao Tom, in school and ease the burden for her mother, who is willing to work but suffers severely from diabetes, high blood pressure and a stomach ailment.
She sells what she makes to friends for between 10 and 40 baht, and they resell them, helping her earn a living.
She knits lying on her tummy because she has bedsores from spending so much time in bed, and has started feeling elbow pain.
"I have to fight the pain and what I'm doing helps keep me from feeling depressed," Mrs Siprai said. "I don't want to waste a day as long as I'm still breathing. And I want to have money to take care of my son.
"Getting 10 baht is better than nothing at all," she added.
