Final words of a Sars victim inspire family

By NATASHA HARRIS

The first New Zealander to die of Sars was one of more than 300 people infected in a Hong Kong apartment complex last month.

Missionary Chee Nan Pin died of Sars last week after spending a month unconscious on a ventilator.

His wife, Eleanor, told the Herald that she had not spoken to her husband since April 18 - when he was placed in isolation.

She said she was inspired by his last words: "If anything happens to me, the main thing is to keep the family together and to keep the college going."

The college is the Hong Kong Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ training school, which the couple, both missionaries, set up in 1996.

"I've got a full-time student at the moment and my son Matthew is yet to begin his equivalent of School Certificate ... I've got no intentions of moving. I'll just continue on with the training college and church work," Mrs Chee said.

When they met in Auckland in 1974, three years after Mr Chee had arrived from Malaysia for university studies, the couple were drawn to each other by their shared goal of bringing Christianity to Chinese people.

They married in 1976 and in 1981, a year after joining the Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ, they left New Zealand for Tasmania and then Singapore. They moved to Hong Kong in December 1982.

Their two children, Elizabeth, 21, (she lives in Scotland) and Matthew, 15, are New Zealand citizens.

Mr Chee, 54, was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital on March 30 and his wife was admitted on April 8. On April 16, Matthew was admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The disease struck the family after a Sars carrier brought the virus to the Amoy Garden housing estate in Hong Kong's Kowloon district. Hundreds of residents were taken to hospital.

Mrs Chee said that a week before he was admitted to hospital her husband had a fever and a cough. An x-ray showed his lungs covered in a "white haziness" and he was taken away for isolated treatment.

"It came as a bit of a shock. I took him to A and E and that was it. I wasn't allowed to travel with him, he wasn't allowed any visitors - I was cut straight off."

Soon after, Mrs Chee and Matthew caught the virus and spent a month fighting it off.

While fighting the virus, she was too weak to worry about her husband and son. "You're too sick to do anything - taking a shower felt like I had done an eight-hour job."

On April 18, Mr Chee's lungs collapsed and he was put on a ventilator.

The isolation from her husband was very hard for Mrs Chee to deal with.

"I couldn't see him and the nurses were meant to ring me once a day at most, so of course you're wondering how your husband is.

"You're totally on your own."

She is still recovering her health at home and has been comforted by messages of condolence from people around the world: "People have been praying for us and I really believe God has given me the strength to keep going and face things."

Mr Chee was cremated yesterday. A service will be held in Auckland next month.