Read our students' stories that start from the CUHK and go further beyond.

No two cracks are ever the same, just as every CUHKer has a different and unique story. But one thing the cracks on a broken piece of pottery have in common is the beam of light that goes through them, shining through the darkness and radiating the power of rebuilding one’s faith. While such a positive take on flaws echoes Enders Wong’s insight into the wisdom of kintsugi, it also resonates in Casey Chu, who has found rays of hope from his illness. 

A former cancer patient, Casey has been running the blog Before Sunrise since 2018. It is a platform for him to share his experience of fighting cancer, with the aim of bringing hope to other patients who are also battling health problems. He says, “Many people see imperfections in cracks, but I think it is the flaws that make one special.” To Casey, a crack is what lets light in, bringing warmth and a ray of hope. It symbolises an opportunity to reinvent oneself in the face of adversity.

Casey is only in his 20s, but he has already been through many ups and downs in life. His illness not only forced him to suspend his studies twice, but also shattered his social life. However, all the painful experiences also taught him to be empathetic, especially towards those who are going through tough times in life. So he started blogging to record his physical conditions and also share his thoughts on the difficulties and challenges facing him. It has turned out to be a rewarding experience. The best part of it, he says, has been the meaningful interactions with his readers. 

Once Casey received a message from a reader suffering from an inherited eye disease like him. In the message, the reader poured his heart out, voicing his frustration with his inconsiderate boss and his family’s indifference towards his plight. Feeling helpless, he found solace in Casey’s writings. In response, Casey encouraged him to change jobs and try to look for companies with a comprehensive support system for visually impaired employees. Recalling the correspondence with that reader, Casey says he finds it particularly rewarding to be someone else’s listener, providing them a safe space to express themselves freely. To him, communicating with his readers feels like talking to a friend, and he sometimes finds himself learning a lot from them.

“It’s not that I help them. It’s through them that I am able to keep learning,” says Casey. Every reader who comes to him has a different background. When reading the stories of those who have considerable experience in the working world, he often feels as if they were a dress rehearsal for the challenges ahead for him, making him aware of the importance of changing perspective in order to restore faith, especially in a fast-moving society. This realisation has also reminded him of a rhetorical question uttered by a speaker at an emotion awareness event held at CUHK: “How could one convince others to love them, when they don’t love themselves?” Those words have been Casey’s motivation, helping him stay positive whenever the going gets tough.

Looking ahead, Casey will keep running the blog. He also hopes to write a book that catalogues the various stories he has heard via Before Sunrise. Hopefully the stories of his “comrades” will raise public awareness of the rights of disabled people, thus enhancing society’s understanding of this underrepresented community.