40-year-old Sergeant Ma Fai (Fai) joined the Force in 2004. He has been stationed in the Police Tactical Unit, Emergency Unit and Complaints Against Police Office. In April 2021, he was transferred to the Police Public Relations Branch, which is the Public Relations Wing (PRW) now. In July of the same year, however, Fai developed symptoms of persistent fever and bone pain all over the body. He was diagnosed with acute leukemia after examination, unfortunately.

Fai has a daughter and a son. It was confirmed that his boy suffered from mild intellectual disability when he was two years old. The optimistic father chose to face the problem hand in hand with his wife and support each other. “I’ll resolve problems proactively whenever I encounter them. We, as parents, would arrange an appropriate environment for our children to acquire knowledge and grow up, no matter how challenging their cases might be.”

The family has become the driving force for Fai to fight the cancer with his might. “I must recover so that my wife won’t be left to take care of the family alone.” He then underwent three rounds of chemotherapy. The course of treatment was generally smooth except for the severe physical reaction in the first round. Due to the shortage of manpower during the epidemic, Fai even made use of his energy to help the medical staff take care of other patients in the hospital.

In addition to chemotherapy, Fai tried to cure the cancer with transplantation of bone marrow. However, it was found upon close examination that the degree of bone marrow matching in his family was not optimal. On the ground of his situation, he applied to the Force to call on his colleagues to donate blood and register as a bone marrow donor, hoping to increase the chances of bone marrow matching for himself and other patients.

His application was responded promptly. In addition to internal appeals, registration events were organised at the Police Headquarters and the Police Sports and Recreation Club. “Many colleagues reacted enthusiastically, and I even received a lot of encouraging text messages.” Although he could not find suitable bone marrow in the events, the eager support of his colleagues moved him very much.

The bone marrow of Fai’s mother showed a low degree of rejection and satisfied partially the transplantation criteria. Despite the relatively high risk, bone marrow transplantation from his mother to Fai was arranged in January 2022 to seize the golden time for his treatment. After recuperation, Fai defeated the cancer successfully and applied to work from home for some time. He has officially returned to the Force since August 2022. Fai says that his success in fighting the cancer is due to the support of many people, especially his mother, wife and colleagues, to whom he owes much gratitude.

After his recovery, Fai continues to work at PRW. He has taken part in many large-scale projects, including the Good Citizen Award Presentation Ceremony 2022. “I hope to infect those around me with my positive and optimistic attitude, in the same manner as the theme of the GCA Presentation Ceremony – pass on our heritage,” said Fai.