Family’s Misfortunes Became a Driving Force for Helping Others

Ms Tso Yee-man has a family with six brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, four of her brothers and sisters were consecutively diagnosed with“Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA)”, a genetically disorder inherited from their father. In the period in which she was lending a helping hand to her family members, she had first-hand experience in the pressure faced by the patients and their family members that were basically unknown to other people. At the same time, she was shocked to know that there was no relevant organization to offer any assistance to this particular group of patients and their families. Without any hesitation, she gave up on her teaching post in the university and got herself fully involved in the provision of assistance to SCA patients.

Encouraging Rare Disease Patients to Develop Their Potentials

Spinocerebellar Ataxia is a rare disease. As of now, there is no medical cure for such disease and can only rely on rehabilitation therapy to slow down the deterioration of body functions. In the early stage of the disease, the patients would experience incoordination of gait, writing impairment and thereafter, even speech impairment and difficulty in swallowing. Most patients would require a wheelchair for mobility and some patients in the later stage may even fail to take care of themselves, lying on the bed paralyzed. This medical predicament has caused a sinking physiological and psychological burdens for the patients and their families. To help the patients and their families to cope with their daily living issues and to encourage them to bravely fighting the disease, Ms Tso launched a patient support group under another patient association in 2003. She then started the "Hong Kong Spinocerebellar Ataxia Association" in 2006 and was formally established in 2007. The objective is to help the SCA patients and their family members develop a self-care and mutualcare spirit, concern for their living, emotional and spiritual needs, emphasize on the welfare of the patients and their reasonable rights so as to create public awareness for the society and raise the attention of the medical specialist toward SCA.

For over a decade, Ms Tso had multiple roles. In addition to her special care for her brothers and sisters, she also had to handle all matters pertaining to the association. In recent years, she was diagnosed with the Parkinson’s disease. Unrelentingly, all these misfortunes did not stop her from continuing to drive her campaign in full force. Besides organizing different kinds of thematic seminars covering Western medicine, Chinese medicine, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, nutritional therapy, home safety, and many other categories of treatment, she even went to the extent of encouraging the patients to develop their potentials and leapfrog the pains of their illnesses and live a rich and fulfilling life.

In 2015, Ms Tso joined hands with a group of patients and their family members to establish the “Hong Kong Alliance for Rare Diseases”, hoping to garner the government support through policies advocacy, increase the awareness of rare diseases for Hong Kong people and provide more support for the patients, allowing them to receive appropriate medical treatment and care.

Check this link for the humanitarian work of Ms Tso Yee-man.