really positive. It brought us closer as a couple. It’s also changed how we approach self-care. Instead of waiting for that massage or vacation, we just do it now. You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. You just have no idea.”
EVERY DAY IS A BONUS Donning rainbow-hued sneakers, Diana Chow looks optimistic when we meet in Quarry Bay. Her mum, Li, has recently survived yet another complication with adenocarcinoma – a glandular cancer that the 73-year-old has been battling over the past three years. Diana says you would never know her mum has cancer. She’s always on the go, socialising, even staying up until midnight to watch shooting stars. “She won’t ever call herself an ‘old woman.’ Physically, yes, but mentally definitely not. Her mind is like that of a teenager. She still loves to go to Lan Kwai Fong on Halloween. She wants to try anything and everything. Maybe that’s why she is so strong. She really loves life.” It was on an evening in early December 2015 that the family realised something was wrong. “Suddenly, my mum said she was feeling strange and couldn’t balance,” recalls Diana. “It was like she lost her depth perception. Everyone thought it was a stroke.” That same night, the family took Li to Tseung Kwan O Hospital Accident & Emergency for a CT scan. And then came the news: a brain tumour. Doctors suspected she needed surgery, so they transferred her to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and put her on a waitlist for an MRI. “We had to wait a few days before she had the MRI scan,” she recalls. “The report confirmed the tumour [and] cerebral edema [excess water in the brain], which causes severe swelling and pressure on her brain. She needed surgery immediately.” Diana and her siblings were still processing the news. “No one in our family thought this could happen to my mum. She’s so healthy,” recalls Diana. “She did everything ‘right’ in life. She exercised, never smoke or drank, followed a vegetarian diet, and looked after herself. “I had at least a little bit of an idea of how to go forward because my father had larynx cancer and lung cancer
Chelsea說：「直至聽到那消息，我才發現我一直屏息 凝氣地度過這六個月，這真是嚴峻的一年：有兩人被確診 癌症。我爸爸正好轉，Joshua也在好轉，他們都回到『正 常』生活，但比以往更專注，更熱情，方向更清晰。我們 共同經歷風雨後，找到一個更深層次的連繫。」 雖然癌症是一個巨大的挑戰，但它同時給予了Joshua 和Chelsea一個全新的看法。「當你聽到『癌症』二字 時，你要不跌入谷底，要不就是在突然之間，學會把人 生的種種分清輕重緩急。這是重要的，這些不重要…… 你的重點變得清晰起來。」 她說如果可以重新選擇，他們願意再次經歷所有。 「對我們來說，這個經驗非常正面，它令我們夫妻更加 恩愛，亦改變我們照顧自己的方法。與其等待按摩或假 期，我們不如現在就照顧好自己，今日不知明日事，你 永遠不會知道明天會如何。」
每天都是賺來的 我們在鰂魚涌相見時，穿著彩色球鞋的周淑儀 （Diana Chow）看起來很樂觀。她的母親最近剛捱過 了又一個腺癌併發症，這名73歲的女士跟腺癌已搏 鬥了三年。 Diana說你不會看出她母親有癌症，因為她常常 走動，與人交際，甚至會去看流星直到深夜。 「她從不會叫自己做『老女人』。身體的確是，但 心理上絕對不是。她的想法仍和少女一樣，她愛在萬聖 節到蘭桂坊，想試這試那，可能這就是她那麼堅強的原 因，因為她真的熱愛生命。」 在2015年12月初的一個晚上，家人開始察覺到有些 異樣。Diana憶起：「我媽媽突然說她覺得不妥，平衡 不了，好像失去了距離感似的，大家都以為是中風。」 同一個晚上，家人帶了周媽媽到將軍澳醫院的急症 室做電腦斷層掃描，得來的消息是：她長了一個腦部腫 瘤。醫生懷疑她需要接受手術，便轉介她到伊利沙伯醫 院，排期做磁力共振掃描。 她說：「我們要多等幾天才做到磁力共振掃描，報 告結果證實有腫瘤和腦水腫，這令她腦部嚴重腫脹和受 壓，她要立即接受手術。」 Diana和她的兄弟姊妹當時仍在消化這消息。她憶 道：「我們家中沒有人會想到這會發生在我媽身上， 她一直都很健康。她人生甚麼都做『對』了：她常做運 動，不煙不酒，吃素又保養身體。」 「我大概知道要做甚麼，因為我爸爸之前患上喉 癌和肺癌。他其實曾三次患癌，最後死於慢性阻塞性 肺病（一種常見肺部疾病）。」 ARIANA 2019
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