Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called on members of the pan-green camp to raise money for Hung Mao-kun (洪茂坤), one of the founding members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who fell into financial difficulies after requiring expensive targeted therapy for liver cancer.
Hung was hospitalized in November last year to undergo Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE) surgery to treat a liver tumor, often a precursor to liver cancer.
The surgery was not successful and cancer cells were discovered during hospitalization, said Hung, who left hospital after 97 days.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
By that time, the cancer cells had spread to his bones, he said, adding that electrotherapy “hurt like hell.”
Sources said that Hung’s wife had also been diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.
Hung was a confidential secretary to Lu when Lu was Taoyuan County commissioner from 1997 until 2000, and was encouraged by Lu to get his doctorate.
Lu, accompanied by DPP Taipei City Councilor Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘), visited Hung at his residence yesterday. She said she was startled at how thin Hung had become.
There have been great medical advances in modern times and Hung should continue treatment as soon as possible, Lu told Hung, adding that willpower was most important when one was sick.
“It is very hard to see Hung like this, because he would often stump for the DPP wherever the DPP had elections,” Lu said.
Now that Hung has liver cancer, he needs help from everyone, she said.
Asked how he was going to pay for the medical bills, Hung said: “We’ll see.”
Lu gave Hung a red envelope before leaving.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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