Editorial | Coco Lee tragedy a cry to fight cruellest of illnesses
- The death of Hong Kong singer-songwriter Coco Lee following her attempted suicide should galvanise community awareness of depression, which is a disorder that can affect anyone
Depression is the most common mental disorder. It can blight every aspect of life. Most people are lucky not to experience it, although many cases go untreated.
It can be difficult for others to understand how a widely envied, admired and successful person can suffer from it – so badly that taking their own life seems the only way out.
If there is any solace to be drawn from such tragedies it is that they galvanise community awareness that depressive disorder is an illness that can affect anyone. The death on Wednesday of Hong Kong singer-songwriter Coco Lee is a case in point.
The announcement by her older sisters on social media disclosed that she had been in a coma after attempting suicide at the weekend. The sisters said: “Coco had been suffering from depression for a few years but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months.”
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Hong Kong music icon Coco Lee dies aged 48 after suicide attempt, sisters say
The news prompted recall of the suicide in April 2003 of the Hong Kong superstar singer-actor Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing. This did nothing to alleviate the gloom engendered at the time by the deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), then at its peak.
