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Monday, March 02, 2020, 11:50
Hit by the disease: The ordeal of a HK family in Wuhan
By He Shusi in Hong Kong
Monday, March 02, 2020, 11:50 By He Shusi in Hong Kong

For 65-year-old Ricky Lee, it has been a nightmare. He, together with his 62-year-old wife and 37-year-old son from Hong Kong, found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Staying in Wuhan during the Chinese New Year, the three were successively infected by the novel coronavirus. Now, recovering in the isolation ward of a Wuhan hospital, Lee recounted his ordeal in a phone interview with China Daily recently. 

“In my whole life, I never expected to have to live in an isolation ward like this. But somehow I have become numb to my plight,” Lee said.  “I just lie on the bed, and stare at the ceiling blankly.”

Lee and his wife spend time in Wuhan to be with their son, Jacky, whose wife is from Wuhan. The younger couple have been running their jewelry business that they established seven years ago in the Central Chinese city.

Lee was alarmed when he heard rumors about an “unidentified pneumonia” in early December. Having experienced SARS in 2003, he made his family wear face masks and stopped his 5-year-old granddaughter from going to school, although his 12-year-old grandson continued to attend classes.

The family of six lives less than 8 kilometers from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where most cases began before the outbreak.  

Lee’s wife was the first to show symptoms of infection. On Jan 25, the first day of the Year of the Rat, she started to cough and developed a high fever.

Their first reaction was to send two children to stay with relatives. Lee then called a hotline for inquiries about the disease and was told to go to a community clinic for an initial diagnosis. The doctor there carelessly said that his wife just had a common cold, and told Lee not to worry about it.

Unconvinced, they drove to a hospital on the night of Jan 26. After six hours of waiting in the packed lounge, his wife got to see a doctor and had a CT scan of her lungs. 

“Looking at the result, the doctor immediately told us that, with 99 percent possibility, my wife was infected with the virus,” Lee recalled. “We were so scared, didn’t expect to be so unlucky.” But she was turned away because of the shortage of beds. 

In the next two more days, the family desperately called friends for help. When a bed was available on Jan 29, the patient with heart disease and diabetes could hardly walk, Lee recalled. 

He had no idea how his wife got infected, but noted that she went to a wet market about three times a week to prepare meals for the family for the coming holiday. 

Then Lee himself came down with an illness that showed very similar symptoms to those of his wife’s. More unfortunately, he spent 11 days at home suffering from a high fever before being admitted to hospital. 

In despair, his son called the director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Wuhan, Vincent Fung, for help, who later arranged Lee to be admitted to the Hong Kong-funded Wuhan Asia General Hospital on Feb 7.

Four days later, Jacky was also admitted to the same hospital for infection by the virus. Both father and son are recovering from the illness. Jacky has been discharged on Saturday. But his mother has remained in critical condition in another hospital. 

Lee, who has been married to his wife for 40 years, said he couldn’t fall asleep at night worrying about his wife. 

“She’s a generous person, and has toiled tirelessly for the family her whole life. I couldn’t start to think if something happens to her,” Lee said. “There’s nothing I can do except pray for miracles to happen.”

heshusi@chinadailyhk.com


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