Ming Pao, 15 July 2007

Lung Cancer Patient: I Really Wish to Have My Air-Conditioner Turned On

　　The best way to stay away from the hot weather is to stay at home to “enjoy air-conditioning”; however, for many poor families, this is not always easy. For instance, air-conditioning has always been something that Mr. Kan, who lives on CSSA of around HK$3,000.00 per month, cannot afford. Recently, the hot weather has even worsened Mr. Kan’s lung cancer, but fortunately, he received an air-conditioner from a welfare organization soon after.

　　The 78-year old Mr. Kan Yau-king found out about his latestage lung cancer last year; at that time, he was living in a small room made of wood planks, where there was a Hong Kong style eatery downstairs, blowing hot air into Kan’s place, making him sweat and gasp while trying to sleep each night. It usually took him around two hours to fall asleep, and often got waken up during the night. Mrs. Kan was rather worried about her husband and would help him to bath so as to lower his body temperature and let him sleep comfortably.

　　The hot weather continued to worsen Mr. Kan’s illness, making him even unable to eat on his own, and it took up to a few hours for his wife to feed him. Since she always worried that some accident would happen to her husband, Mr. Kan’s wife needed to keep an eye on Mr. Kan every second; even when she went downstairs to grocery shop, she would need to run, and when she washed the dishes in the kitchen, she often needed to go back to the bedroom to look after Mr. Kan from time to time. Recalling that time period, Mrs. Kan sadly expresses, “He was like having alzheimer’s disease, and I was very depressed because I simply had to do and worry too much!”

　　The power usage of air-conditioning is too high; turning it on all day is unaffordable. Although his illness got increasingly worse, Mr. Kan was not capable of purchasing an air-conditioner. Deducting renting costs and expenditures spent on nutrition milk powder, Kan only had around $1,000 of CSSA left each month. In May 2007, through a social worker’s help, Kan finally moved to a public estate with a much better living environment, and also received an air-conditioner from St. James’ Settlement. Since the air-conditioner uses up a lot of electricity, Mr. Kan only turns it on at night, but his illness has already got much better. Now, not only can he eat on his own, he can also sleep well until sunrise. Mr. Kan says, “I’d be even happier if I could turn on the air-conditioner during the day.” This air-conditioner has seriously saved Kan’s life.

Mr. Kan’s illness has improved not only because of the air-conditioner, but also his wife’s efforts. Even though Kan no longer needs to shower continuously each night to lower his body temperature, Mrs. Kan still helps to wash his body with wet towels from time to time.