The blind girl who encouraged Hong Kong people to treasure life on a television commercial during the Sars outbreak with her 'Happy Dance' received a special gift ahead of her 19th birthday next month: admission to the University of California, Berkeley.
Judith Lung was only 10 when she took part in a special commercial in 2003. 'I am not afraid of darkness, but just like anyone else, I am afraid of the cold,' she said in the commercial. She then performed what she called a 'Happy Dance'.
The commercial became hugely popular at that time. The girl had lost her sight when she was just two months old after surgery to remove a tumour in her retina.
Lung once studied at Hong Kong's Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired, but in 2003 left for the US to continue her studies there.
Lung told local media she was at first very shy in the US. 'I prayed to God I would have the courage to talk to others,' she said.
Lung graduated with a full GPA score, earning a Presidential Scholar Award. She will major in English at UC Berkeley and plans to become a special education teacher.