Roland Lee was an energetic man who travelled between Hong Kong, Shenzhen and New York running his business. So when 61-year-old Lee (whose name has been changed for reasons of patient confidentiality) started to feel increasingly fatigued, he was not sure what to make of it.
The bouts of fatigue grew worse, sapping not only his energy but his appetite, leaving him feeling constantly weak. He then developed a low-grade fever as his symptoms dragged on for two months.
During one of his business trips to Shenzhen, he sought treatment at a hospital, but doctors were baffled by his symptoms and could not pin down a diagnosis. He was given antibiotics, but little more was done.
He was feeling extremely unwell while in Hong Kong in June, so he checked himself into the North District Hospital. Immediately after admission, his temperature rose to 39 degrees Celsius, his blood pressure plunged, and Lee went into shock. He was taken to intensive care where doctors fought to stabilise him while trying to figure out his ailment.
Tests showed that Lee's liver function was impaired. He was also severely anaemic - there were not enough red blood cells circulating in his body - and his haemoglobin levels were extremely low.
Where a healthy male should have 12 to 13 grams per decilitre of haemoglobin, Lee only had six grams per decilitre.