Dr. LEUNG Chi-mei, Christine (1973 Alumna)

About the alumna:

  • F. 5 graduate in 1973
  • LLB Law Degree, the University of Central England, Birmingham, UK
  • MA in Communication, the Hong Kong Baptist University
  • PhD in Journalism, the Hong Kong Baptist University
  • Award Winner, Distinguished Alumni Communicator Awards, the Hong Kong Baptist University
  • Vice Chairman, Direction Association for the Handicapped

I am what I am

 

England, June 30th 1989

It was a beautiful summer day. The sun was warm and the sky was blue. I have been studying at University of Birmingham for an MBA program and had just completed my first year. I had not long finished my exams and was taking a day out to the English seaside, Bournmouth, with my friends. There were four of us in the car traveling merrily on the highway with me sitting beside the driver in the front passenger seat. We were on the fast lane behind a car that was driven by a young man. We later found out that he was a university graduate who was going home for his summer break. He had put too much luggage on the roof-rack of his car. The luggage could not have been tied very securely. All of a sudden, the ties became loose and the suitcases were flying all about the motorway, while some were flying towards our car. My friend immediately steered our car to the another lanes in order to avoid this flying luggage. Although we were not speeding, we were after all traveling at a high speed. The sudden swing of the car took it to the ditch of the highway and our car overturned as a result. I landed with my neck down.

When I came out of a 3-day comma, I found myself attached to many tubes, skull traction and a life support machine which pumped air into the opening in my throat (I later learnt about the medical term – trachea) and my lungs. I recall that day vividly. I was lying in a hospital bed looking at my arms and legs. They looked normal but I was asking myself why I couldn’t move them and feel them. They were attached to my body, yet they didn’t seem to belong to me. I felt like a mummy who was completely strapped in, being only able to move my eyes. I wanted to speak but I had no voice due to the tube in my throat. No words could really express the horror that I felt at that time. Soon afterwards, the doctor told me that I had broken my neck and damaged my spinal cord at the “hang-man level” (meaning that I should have been dead). I was thus paralyzed from the neck down. I would be totally dependent on others for care and even my breathing would rely on a life support machine, twenty-four hours a day for my future life. A three-minute traffic accident has changed my life drastically. From a lively, active woman who was full of the promise of a bright future, I was sent to a living hell. I asked myself how I could face my life in the future. I couldn’t see how I could ever be happy again. I would only be a burden to my family. Oh! All I wanted was death. I had even asked the doctor to let me die. Of course, as euthanasia was not permitted in England, my request was not granted nor was it possible. Despite being critically ill at the time and having a serious chest infection, somehow I lived.

Those were my darkest days. All I did was to cry all the time. I hated the world and felt that life had been unfair to me. What had I done to deserve all these? I refused to see any visitor except my husband, my eleven-year-old son, my parents, my brothers, sister and my best friend from school, Chan Ming Chu who flew from Hong Kong after learning my news. I did not want to talk to anyone and took no interest in what was happening around me. I felt that I had been deserted by the world. I was no longer a part of it. I just stared at the ceiling all day, wishing that the whole thing was just a bad dream. I was extremely depressed. I felt that I had fallen into a deep black hole and would never be able to get out of it.

There is a saying that time heals all. Yes, in a way, it is true. After around six months after my injury, I started to cry less. The bitterness within me and against the world also started to calm down. I started to take note of my surroundings and the people around me. I noticed how my parents would feel happy if I just ate a little more, or how they would bend over backwards for anything that would make me feel more comfortable. I saw how happy my son was when he saw me taking interest in what he had done in school. I came to realize that their happiness hung with my every whim. They were down when I cried. They were up when I smiled. I suddenly felt so ashamed of myself. How I had caused so much misery to my family who loved me dearly and whom I also love. Being miserable would not change my misfortune. My condition would not get better because of my bitterness except to add unhappiness to my love ones. They have done much for me and the least I could do is to get out of my depression and to accept the bad hand life had dealt me. Subsequently, I started to embark on the rehabilitation program that doctors had arranged for me that would prepare me to leave hospital and to go home. Eventually, I was discharged from hospital after 20 months.

That Was 16 Years Ago!

Looking back, life has not been as bad as I first thought. I would be lying if I said that life is easy. No, it is not. Everyday, just to get out of bed into a wheelchair will take over two hours (around the same amount of time to get back in again). By the time I am washed, have chest physio, exercises and get dressed, I feel like I have already fought a battle before I start the day. When I have an itch, I need someone to scratch for me. When I have a runny nose, I need someone to wipe it for me. My privacy is non-existent as I need a carer to be with me twenty-four hours a day, every minute of the day. Still, I’m glad that I am alive. I have had done much in the past years. I have set up a Chinese Women’s Association in Birmingham, England in 1994 to serve the local Chinese. It now has nearly a thousand members. I went back to university and took a Law degree in 1999. Upon returning to Hong Kong five years ago, I continued my study at Hong Kong Baptist University and obtained a Master’s degree in Communication in 2002. At present, I am a PhD student in Journalism there. During this times, I got divorced from my husband but was happy to see my son grow from a child to become a handsome young man. Yes, I am glad that I am alive despite my misfortune.

I have learned from life that one must treasure what one has. You never know what may be waiting around the corner for you. I have lost a lot in a car accident – within minutes. Living overseas in the UK with my own family and career, I have neglected to some extent, my parents in Hong Kong. However, in my darkest days, it was my parents who stood by me and pulled me out from the deepest black hole. I have also found that one must believe in oneself. No doubt, we all face difficulties and problems all through our lives. Many a time, we think that we will never get out of our black holes but believe me, if you can believe in yourself, you will find that there is a bottom to the black hole and that you can get out of it. Things may not be as bad as you envisage. There are many happy things, happy times and loved ones that are worth living for.

As for me, I may not be able to move my arms and legs and I may be paralyzed from the neck down but I am still the same daughter who my parents love. I am still the same mother who my son adores. I am still the same Chi Mei who my friends know. I am just what I am.

我的王肇枝情

 

歲月似箭,不知不覺間人生已過了大半。這大半生中,有起有落。

我在大埔土生土長,小學、中學都在大埔渡過,中學畢業後便到英國留學,一住20多年。其間更因一場無妄之災的車禍,成為一個四肢癱瘓的傷殘人士。今日的我,經過許多甜酸苦辣,真是「回首已是百年身」。如果有人問我,人生中最開心的是哪一段日子,我會毫不猶疑的說一生中最快樂的日子,就是我在王肇枝讀書的中學時光。在這裏,我渡過了愉快的少年成長期;在這裏,我認識到對我不離不棄的死黨和老同學;也在這裏,我遇到對學生循循善誘的優秀老師,成就了我如今活在當下、珍惜人生、不輕言屈服的生活價值觀。

我是經當年小學升中試,派位入讀母校中文部的。其實當時我內心頗為矛盾,因為像現在許多學生一樣,在派位結果公佈前,我曾報考了九龍區一所頗具名氣的英文中學,更成功被錄取。在猶豫揀選入讀中文班、還是接受英語教學之際,我最終選擇了在新界區有極高評價的母校。幸好,這個決定使我一生受益。

當時母校分中、英文部,大概是中文部一班,英文部三班。中文部的同學,由於無需分班的緣故,彼此相處五年,亦做就了彼此深厚的感情。時至今日,我們一班老同學仍時有聚會,即使身在海外,亦經常聯繫;而在我人生低潮的時候,他們依然對我不離不棄,讓我為這份情誼深感驕傲。另一方面,往往因我出國多年,衣著、打扮不知不覺西化起來,很多新相識的朋友,都以為我不懂中文。故每當我將母校所學的中國文學、歷史稍為「搬弄」出來,往往令他們驚訝起來,笑說我「明珠暗藏」。我頗為自己有著不俗的中文基礎而自豪,這一切全拜母校當年對我們在中國文化上的栽培所賜。

想起在母校讀書時,最興奮莫過於小息的時候。雖然小息只有短短的十五分鐘,但每當小息鐘響起,我們好幾個同學都會爭分奪秒地跑到課室外(舊校舍)的一片水泥空地,擺起陣勢,打起羽毛球來。當時甚麼設備都沒有,更談不上有羽毛球網。但大家拿著羽毛球、羽毛球拍(通常是其中一位同學帶回校的),便興高采烈地打起來。片刻間,同班的或不同班的都會走過來,少說也有十來個,排成小龍,準備在「一分制」比賽一較高下。

所謂一分制,就是一球定勝負,輸方離場,勝方可以繼續留下挑戰對手。當時大家都會興奮的排隊,等著上場打球;勝了的開心,輸了的失望。大家也知道小息時間緊迫,鐘聲一響,便要飛奔返回課室上課。有時候,可能排了五分鐘以上,卻只能打得一球,但大家依然很開心地玩著、很開心地等待。至今,那種終於輪到自己的興奮、勝利的喜悅、融洽的現場氣氛,仍歷歷在目。每當我們一班老同學,談起當天小息的情景,大家依然津津有味。更有一位同學,到今天還笑說我的不是呢!因為每次我當上盟主,對手一上場,球技精湛又好勝的我,便會馬上施展「殺手鐧」,大力扣球。她笑說自己只有機會開球,一上場便給我殺了下去,未有機會「搓」球,便只有垂著頭重新排隊了。說起來,她現在還氣我呢!

中學時代的我,居住在東昌街。每天步行回校,要走約10分鐘的路程。早上上學,轉出東昌街後,沿著廣福道向學校方向走。記得前面不遠的左方是海,右邊是個小山丘,面向偏東方而行的我,都會看見一個暖暖的朝陽,斜斜的掛在前面。踏著陽光而行,總讓我感覺世界多美、我的前路多錦繡;仰著面,迎著傾瀉而下的陽光向母校前進,彷彿向美好的將來走著、走著。

今天的我,是個坐著輪椅,四肢不能動的傷殘人士,生活事事靠人,甚至吸一口氣、說一句話都要依賴呼吸機,故此我一言一行,真的很不容易。不過,當我看到藍天白雲,吃到一碗美味的魚蛋河,仍覺得生活是充實而美好的。人生許多時會遇到不同的挫折和困難,情緒亦會跌進黑洞,覺得痛苦無盡頭。但我的經驗告訴我,只要相信生命是美好的,是值得堅持的,你必定可以從黑洞走出來,真有「柳暗花明又一村」之感,生命並非你所想那樣灰暗。這個信念,或許就是每個回校的早上,迎著朝陽而行時所獲得的。這種抬頭陽光燦爛、充滿希望的美好感受,一直深藏在我的心間、記憶中,伴隨著我,支持著我。

這麼多年了,大埔已經變化很大。我校王肇枝以前是面向海的。許多時,我與三、兩同學,會到學校對面小沙灘的石頭上、大樹下、沙石邊……在輕輕的海浪聲中聊天、又或溫習功課。現在學校對面的海已沒有了,旁邊的「元州仔」、「蜑家人」亦早也銷聲匿跡,換來的是高樓大廈和繁忙的交通要道。但我校仍然屹立在山丘之旁,而小小的水泥空地(我們的羽毛球場) 依然可見。雖然時光的轉移,伴來了人事的變遷,但我對母校的這份心、這份情,多年未變。

Dr Leung Chi Mei in Cable TV's Programme

 

Our alumna, Dr. Leung Chi Mei was interviewed by Cable TV. Dr Leung graduated in 1973. In 1989, she experienced a car accident in England and became paralyzed. However, she did not give up. With her perseverance and optimism, she is now living a fruitful life. In 1994, she graduated with a Law Degree from the University of Central England, Birmingham, UK. Then she returned to Hong Kong and furthered her education. She obtained her MA in Communication and PhD in Journalism from the Hong Kong Baptist University. With her outstanding academic performance, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Communicator by the Hong Kong Baptist University.

Apart from her outstanding academic performance, Dr. Leung is enthusiastic in participating in social services. She is the Vice Chairlady of the Direction Association for the Handicapped and continues to serve and strive for the welfare of the handicapped. She even visited children in the rural areas of Shaoguan to encourage them to be strong in hard times.

Out of her love to her alma mater, Dr. Leung volunteered to organize a series of afterschool English classes for S.3 students. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Leung's support to this school.

Click to view the Cable TV's interview with Dr. Leung