Manila hostage victim Yik Siu-ling just wants to chomp down on dinner
Yik Siu-ling wants to sink her teeth deep into some tasty roast goose and barbecued pork, more than three years after she lost two-thirds of her lower jaw in the Manila hostage shooting.
And with her shattered jaw reconstructed, she is hopeful of a new life ahead.
"Life will be better because I can eat [solid food] now," Yik, 37, said on the phone from Taiwan last night. "Hong Kong has a lot of good food. There are many things I like to eat, such as roast goose and barbecued pork."
Since the 2010 injury, Yik has only been able to chew solid food occasionally, as her jaw condition fluctuated between 33 operations performed at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin. "It was only possible to eat on and off, with this year being the worst," she said. "I could not eat solid food for almost a year."
On August 23, 2010, a bullet shattered Yik's lower jaw, left thumb and right index finger when she was shot in the face by crazed gunman Rolando Mendoza as he killed eight Hongkongers on their tour bus.
She travelled to Taiwan on December 11 for surgery at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, disappointed by the medical treatment in Hong Kong. A second operation at the hospital will take place in three months' time.