Today is a sad day for former actress Gigi Fu Ming-hin as she says farewell to her 1411/2- year-old (dog years) furry friend, Ocha (both pictured). The Buddhist funeral ceremony will take place in Causeway Bay this afternoon. Last week, Ocha, a white Pekinese, died in Fu's arms as cancer spread to his brain. He had been her companion for more than a third of her life.

Ocha was diagnosed with oral malignant melanoma and, in the hope of curing it, Fu and her dog flew to New York to participate in the Slone Kettering Cancer Centre's trial vaccinations. The treatment had not yet been approved for humans and the pooch became a guinea pig for the new drug. Fu says the drug worked because when they left New York his lungs were cancer free. 'The drugs did what they were supposed to do,' she says, 'but there was nothing they could do when the cancer spread to his spinal cord.'

At the end, Ocha had lost all sensation and was unable to walk. After he died, Fu stayed up all night to groom him one last time. 'Because of his health, Ocha was not groomed for a long time,' says Fu. 'I promised him he would be beautiful when I lay him in his coffin, so I bathed him, cut and put bows in his hair, painted his nails and dressed him. The sun was coming up when I finished.'