‘I’ve never seen a person so unbreakable’: locked-in syndrome sufferer Laure Wang moves maker of Amazon Prime documentary with her resolve

Laure Wang had it all. A graduate of Stanford and Harvard Business School, she co-founded a Hong Kong private equity firm and gave birth to two boys

But in 2010 a stroke triggered locked-in syndrome. Being dependent on others frustrates her, yet she keeps going, as an Amazon Prime documentary shows

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Laure Wang, former finance high-flyer struck down by locked-in syndrome, with her son Madyn in a still from “Spell Me Out”, a documentary about her released in 2022 on Amazon Prime. Madyn has no memory of his mother before she became almost totally paralysed. Photo: Amazon Prime

Mabel Lui

Published: 6:15pm, 4 May 2023Updated: 10:09pm, 4 May 2023

Corrected [10:01pm, 4 May, 2023]

[10:01pm, 4 May, 2023]
A caption said Wang and her husband met at Harvard Business School. In fact, they met while both worked in Menlo Park, California.

Laure Wang had the world at her feet.

A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Business School, she was a vice-president in Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division in the United States before launching an independent asset management firm in Hong Kong with two partners in 2005, when she was 33.

Called Asia Alternatives, the female-led company – a rarity in the finance space – went on to become one of Asia’s largest private equity firms.

But on April 26, 2010, Wang’s life took a drastic turn.

After experiencing a sudden brainstem stroke – she collapsed during a meeting – the high-flyer was diagnosed with locked-in syndrome, a rare disorder of the nervous system that saw Wang become totally paralysed below the neck.

Though she was fully conscious and could think properly, she could not move or utter proper words, and was left able to communicate using only her eyes.