Hong Kong father shares life lessons learned after death of daughter Chau Tin-yu
Eddie Chau spent years fighting civil case after alleged medical blunder left daughter in vegetative state for four years
Hongkonger Eddie Chau used to mark Father’s Day by visiting his daughter in hospital, stroking her cheek and telling her about her family’s lives as she lay in a vegetative state.
After Chau Tin-yu died in March at just eight years old, her father now marks the day by sharing a simple meal with his wife and their 10-year-old son before they pay their respects at her urn.
Tin-yu spent four years in a vegetative state after a blood transfusion was delayed for 48 minutes and her heart stopped beating for nearly an hour during an operation to remove a cancerous tumour at a public hospital in 2020.
She was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer, at age four and had received chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the run-up to the operation.
The ordeal attracted media attention, with Chau alleging the incident was down to a medical blunder and filing a civil lawsuit against the Hospital Authority. A settlement was reached last year.
Chau, a former online business owner, said he was trying to channel his feelings of loss and grievance from the family’s painful journey into helping others in need.