Born-again non-smoker aims to save others

After decades of smoking, Kwok Shu-ming's lung disease became so bad that he was "imprisoned" at home for seven years, forced to give up his job and depend on his wife, their son and daughter, and an oxygen machine.

However, he has been given a second chance to live thanks to an organ donor, and he has seized the chance to fulfil a dream that grew over those years trapped in his home - to persuade people not to smoke.

It was last summer when a deceased donor gifted him the lung transplant that changed his life.

"It's been so long since I could go out and celebrate Chinese New Year. I haven't paid a New Year visit to my mother-in-law for 10 years and this year I could finally do it," said Kwok, 59.

"If you fall ill, it's your own problem, but you're affecting your loved ones too."

Kwok started smoking when he was eight. He went on to become a cross-border truck driver which meant he could smoke as he worked.

"I used to tell my wife, 'When I'm in my coffin, remember to put cigarettes in it too, or I'll come back and find you,'" he said.