Hong Kong husband makes new year wish for double lung transplant for ailing wife
Woman with rare heart and lung condition among sick Hongkongers hoping for life-saving organ transplants, and time is of the essence
The husband of an ailing 53-year-old woman who is suffering from a rare lung condition has only one wish for the Year of the Rooster: a new pair of lungs for his wife.
In 2004, doctors diagnosed Phyllis Kum Siu-wan with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, a condition where abnormally high blood pressure in the lungs makes it hard for the heart to pump blood into them. Kum’s lungs and the left side of her heart are failing, and her liver function has also been damaged.
Without a double lung transplant, doctors say she would be more susceptible to bacterial infection, which could put her life on the line.
Kum’s husband, who gave his name only as Lo, drew a cartoon of his wife holding a traditional Lunar New Year calligraphy scroll, wishing everyone good health in the Year of the Rooster.
“On the surface it looks like a seemingly joyful new year’s greeting cartoon, but each stroke of the pen is filled with pain and tears,” Lo wrote in a message sent through Hospital Authority staff.