Post-surgery complications claim life of young Hong Kong lung transplant patient at centre of public search for donor
- Ng Lok-ching, 24, died a month after the successful operation at Queen Mary Hospital
- Few Hongkongers have registered as lung donors and only lung transplants were performed last year, hospital consultant says
A 24-year-old Hong Kong woman who received a successful lung transplant after a public campaign for a donor last month passed away on Friday morning due to post-operative infections, according to medical sources.
Ng Lok-ching died one month after undergoing surgery at Queen Mary Hospital, where she was admitted with a rare medical condition.
Her doctors said Ng’s body had been unable to produce sufficient blood cells for years, a condition known as severe aplastic anaemia (SAA). She developed complications following a blood transfusion last December, and remained in critical condition.
One complication was pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD), which resulted in heart failure and blockages in the veins of her lungs. Doctors said the condition was so rare that less than one person per million suffer from it.
Ng had taken part in track and field activities and joined dancing groups while in primary and secondary schools, but was forced to discontinue those activities because of anaemia.
She had briefly worked full-time after graduating from Hong Kong’s Lingnan University, but her condition deteriorated and she had been unable to live normally ever since.