A young survivor of a catastrophic train collision 15 years ago has grown up to become a volunteer who gives hope to many inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients like her.

Mengjun, 28, was diagnosed with IBD when she was graduating from senior secondary school. She said she was the “one unlucky person in 30,000” in China.

She also has a more breathtaking identity: a survivor of the devastating 2011 Wenzhou train collision.

On July 23, 2011, two high-speed trains collided on a railway line in Wenzhou, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. The trains derailed, and four carriages fell off the viaduct. The accident caused 40 deaths and at least 192 injuries.

Mengjun, 13 at the time, was in the second to last carriage of the front train. She was travelling from her hometown, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, to the train’s destination, Fuzhou, in southeastern Fujian province, to spend her summer there.

On the 13th anniversary of the accident, she recalled grabbing the overhead luggage rack to survive as her carriage was rammed from behind.