Show brings dying wish to life

The dying wish of a 13-year-old to have his paintings seen and enjoyed by the public has come true three years later. More than 20 of the boy's works went on show yesterday in Sha Tin.

Ray Cheung Wai-chung died in April 2000 of a brain tumour at Prince of Wales Hospital. Paintings from his book My Little Creation feature in the two-day exhibition organised by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The foundation published the book and proceeds from its sale will go towards helping child cancer sufferers.

The boy's father, Cheung Chi-pang, a laboratory technician at City University, said it was his son's way of thanking all those who had loved and cared for him.

'I have mixed feelings,' he said. 'On one hand, Ray has been gone for three years and I still miss him, but it was my son's wish that, since he had not done anything for society while he was alive, his paintings would.'

The child began painting when he was five. The book is a collection of some 80 of his works in oil, coloured pencil, watercolours, charcoal and acrylic. They range from self-portraits to still lifes and landscapes.

The book's preface, which his aunt wrote in the boy's voice, says: 'If it was not for the presence of God in my heart, I would most probably spend my days crying, feeling depressed and losing my appetite.

'Daddy laughs at me for speaking like a grown-up but this is, in fact, what I have truly experienced.

'My wish is to use this collection of drawings to let everyone who cares about me know that I will miss them.'

Doctors diagnosed Ray with brain cancer in 1998.

One of the doctors who treated him contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which then published the book.

The exhibition at Sha Tin New Town Plaza Level 3 ends at 4pm today. The book sells for $30.