Fan Sau-woon In July last year, Fan Sau-woon's breast bled non-stop. Doctors diagnosed it as breast cancer. 'I was clumsy and would fall over all the time. My breast sometimes bled but I thought it was because of the falls,' she said. Tests revealed that Ms Fan, 56, had intestinal cancer as well as breast cancer. Fortunately the two were not related and the breast cancer had only spread to a few lymph nodes but not to any of her organs. She had an operation to remove the intestinal tumours and since then has had to carry a colostomy bag, which collects her faecal matter via an opening in her intestines. The intestinal cancer treatment was straightforward and simple compared to her breast cancer treatment. She tried two different kinds of chemotherapies. The first was a six-course treatment, for free, and the second was another six-course treatment - which cost her HK$16,000. But neither had any significant effect. Her doctors then decided to try a new medication, including six injections costing more than HK$10,000 each, and seven oral treatments costing HK2,700 each. Ms Fan also has diabetes and needs injections twice a day at a cost of more than HK$1,000 a month. 'It was a lot of money for my family. My son and daughter had just started working and didn't earn much. They gave me more than half of their salaries, but the money was still not enough to cover my medical costs. 'I wanted to give it up because there was no way we could afford all these extra expenses. But my daughter said we have to get it cured, no matter what,' Ms Fan said. Ms Fan's family now owes the bank tens of thousands of dollars. Interest payments alone cost them several hundred dollars a month. Ms Fan's daughter, who gives private tuition, took on many more students after her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Every time Ms Fan goes to the hospital, her son has to take leave from work to take care of her. 'I am very sorry to have made their life much more difficult. I love them so much and I spend more time with them. Every time I think of how I might leave them soon I feel so depressed,' she said in tears. Ms Fan received a HK$3,000 subsidy from the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society which helped her a little. For now, she can only take it one day at a time.
