Lydia Shum Din-Ha, one of Hong Kong’s most popular comedian actress, died of liver cancer and other complications on 19 February 2008 at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong .
Hong Kong Lydia Shum has been on the front to prevent and educate about breast cancer…
The actor was also known as Fei-Fei or Fatty. She was 60 years old. Shum was born to a well-of large family in Shanghai , China and she was fifth among the family’s eight children. In 1960 she made her debut as a child actor.
She was survived by a daughter, Joyce Cheng Yan-Yee from her failed marriage to an actor and singer, Adam Cheng Siu Chow. They were married in 1985 after living together for 11 years. She wore a Chinese cheongsam at her wedding due to her weight and years later, she said she regretted not wearing a wedding gown at that time. Only eight months after her daughter was born, the couple divorced.
Shum, had various chronic health problems: cholangitis, diabetes and hypertension. In 2002, she underwent surgery to remove 32 gallstones. In September 2006, Shum was diagnosed with liver tumor and cancer around the gallbladder. A third of her liver was removed in July 2007.
Lydia Shum receiving
"The lifetime achievement award"
at Hong Kong TVB’s 40th anniversary awards on
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Even with 1/4th of her liver it looks that Lydia Shum still "looks ok" for the average onlooker.
As we all know who went through this: what they don’t show is what people don’t know… Cancer is not a word, it’s a tragedy that affects everybody touching it.