Brittle bones but strong spirit

Wing Ki suffers from the genetic disorder osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as “brittle bone disease”. With bones that break easily, it is not difficult to imagine she has been a frequent hospital patient over the years and learned to overcome pain and other difficulties. Despite these severe challenges, she has become an accomplished para table tennis player and started her studies in Animation and Digital Arts at Lingnan University this year.

Being prone to injuries, she underwent orthopaedic surgery frequently. How did she surmount all these hurdles? “I don’t want to worry my family,” Wing Ki says. “Although it was really painful, I chose to keep it to myself.” Looking back, she was amazed that she could handle it all. She is grateful to her doctor who made the best decisions on her operations, reducing the number of injuries.

Stress inevitably arose when Wing Ki had to deal with both illness and school work. She learned to destress by drawing and playing table tennis, a sport that worried her family when she started to learn it. “My mother was very protective of me when I was a kid, and seldom allowed me to participate in any outdoor activities,” she recalls. “The ping pong touched a raw nerve with her at first. Yet as she saw me growing over the challenges, she let me decide what to do.”