HONG KONG (SE): Camay Lam, a terminally-ill cancer patient who set up the Footprint of Grace, a Facebook page which worked with Church organisations to raise funds for the needy in different projects last year, died peacefully in the company of her family and friends on the morning of April 2. She was 48-years-old
Her funeral Mass is scheduled to be celebrated by Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing at 10.00am on April 29 at St. Joseph’s Church, Garden Road. The remains will be cremated at Cape Collinson Crematorium, Chai Wan, after a service by Father Patrick Sun Ing-feng.
Her family has declined gifts, choosing instead to donate all condolence money to Mercy Hong Kong, an organisation set up by Oblate missionary Father John Wotherspoon to help homeless people.
Lam’s last charity project was the sale of Chinese New Year envelopes, designed with the Chinese calligraphy of Father Nicolas de Francqueville, to raise funds at the Holy Redeemer Church, Tuen Mun, to support a youth centre and Church constructions in Laos as well as Mercy Hong Kong [Sunday Examiner, January 31, March 13].
I hope it can encourage those who are sick or in trouble to remember to follow the footprints of God in good times and in bad times. And to help people live a richer life
Father Francqueville said he is grateful to God for having met Lam who bravely fought cancer, doing different acts of charity and bearing witness to God in the last stage of her life. He believes God has already welcomed her into his kingdom.
Father Wotherspoon recalled that he met Lam in the last year of her life. “I was one of many people for whom Camay’s faith and courage were a great inspiration,” he said.
“We now have a new special friend in heaven who will continue to be with us by her prayers in the presence of Jesus the Good Shepherd,” the priest said.
The Footprint of Grace was set up on March 19 last year with the support of Lam’s friends. Her hope was that through the Facebook page, she could spread the love of God with postings and the sale of charity products. The items sold were mainly designed by Lam and the total revenue was donated to the needy.
“I hope it can encourage those who are sick or in trouble to remember to follow the footprints of God in good times and in bad times. And to help people live a richer life,” she told the Sunday Examiner in a 20-minute interview on January, in which she did not feel well and had to pause to cough from time to time. She was often assisted in her replies by Yuki Fung, a co-worker at Footprint of Grace.
Fung recalled that she was not really worried about Fung’s physical condition at that time. “If Camay said she was ready for an interview, she was. She normally chose the time of the day when she was most physically fit to do her work,” Fung said. She recalled that Lam’s motto was not to test God by pushing her body too far, an piece of advice offerd by Bishop Ha during a gathering at the Doctor Jesus Centre.
Lam had been a successful landscape architect devoted to work before she had cancer, but the disease changed her outlook on life and directed her focus to God
Lam had nearly 60 chemotherapy treatments over the past two years since she was diagnosed with lung cancer, and the side effects caused a lot of physical suffering. She tried targeted therapy earlier this year which has lesser side effects, but her cancer index began to rise. But she did not give up and tried her best to evangelise and bring more people to God with her last efforts. She was admitted to the intensive care unit on March 17.
In April last year, Lam and Fung arranged and sponsored the setting up of the Doctor Jesus Centre in Jordan Road where Father Wotherspoon has his office. Both then became the backbone of regular prayer meetings at the centre for sick people each Saturday afternoon, a plan initiated by Father Wotherspoon. Many cancer patients received wonderful encouragement from Camay’s sharings, some of which are available on Youtube.
Lam had been a successful landscape architect devoted to work before she had cancer, but the disease changed her outlook on life and directed her focus to God.
She gave her testimony through talks at the Doctor Jesus Centre, in posts on the Facebook page of Footprint of Grace, and also on YouTube, encouraging cancer patients and other people.
Fung said the charity work of Footprint of Grace would continue even after Lam’s passing. She said some patients at the Doctor Jesus Centre expressed an interest in helping to carry on Lam’s mission. “Many cancer patients are, in fact, tough, talented and interested in helping people. They just need a platform to express themselves,” she said.
