When Selena was born, she was the jewel of the family. Our Grandfather, HUNG Shiu-Hoo had 5 sons and 1 daughter by his first wife, Mdm HUI See-Tak. Our first Grandmother passed away in a miscarriage. Grandfather re-married Grandmother, CHAN Tsun-Hing. It was over 10 years since the Hung family had a baby, so when Selena was born, she was the jewel of the family. Everyone treated her like a princess. Then came sister Rita, brother Allan, followed by nieces and nephews – Lai Man, Paul, Lawrence, Lai Lai, Eddy, May, Diana, Lai Yiew, Shiu-Hing, Viola, Amy, Simon, Esther, Newman, Andrew. . . . Can you imagine, one time, there were 7 kids under one roof. Selena became the big Sister/Aunt. She was a born leader. All the kids listen to her and do as she told them to. Selena and Rita went to the same high school. She took care of everything for Rita – When and where was the school picnic, extra curriculum activities; what fee was due and how much. Selena knew all. Rita is forever grateful for Selena’s help in persuading our Grandparents to let her go to Canada to pursue higher education. It changed her life and has helped change the lives of many of the Hung’s clan members. As Selena grew up, she had made some life long friends along the way. The infamous “four golden flowers” consist of Selena, Rita, Jennifer and Regina. The girls did everything together, doing all the girly things that teenage girls would do -Dressing up; shopping; going to movies, collect movies stars’ pictures; buying records of favourite singers – Joe Jr., David Cassidy. Every summer, the 4 girls would pick up handcraft jobs - crochet handbags from our 9th Aunt for about $0.50 per bag. (That was a lot of money then). Many good times were held on these summer payday. Selena usually made the most! One year, Grandma made the girls learned how to knit. It took Rita a whole summer to finish one side of a skirt. And as usual, Rita got a helping hand from Selena to eventually finish the task. So from a very young age, Selena had already shown her talent in handcrafts and leadership among those that needed help. Their teenage years were among the happiest times of their lives. There was no recollection of any fights among these girls, apart from the occasional bragging fight over their worshipped movie stars (Siu Fong-Fong verses Chan Bo-chiu) and pop singers (Elvis against Cliff Richard). All agreed that school lives were the best, except for the exams, which brought nightmares to them. In high school, Selena loved all the art courses, and amongst them, history and Chinese literature was by far her favorite. She was fascinated with Chinese history, poems, proses, operas, etc. And of course, when she had to pick what she wanted to major in, she of course chose the arts. After she graduated high school, she found a job as a clark at Bangkok Bank in Hong Kong. And it was at Bangkok Bank that she met her future husband Ken. The two were just friends at first, as Ken was attached to another women at that time. But as his relationship with that women faltered, their affection for each other blossomed. One evening, at a coworker house party while watching the Hui’s brothers variety show on television, sparks flew between them and they began the relationship of a lifetime. They dated for several years, sharing many wonderful memories. And finally on October 30, 1979, the two love birds tied the knot and became husband and wife. Shortly after their marriage, Selena became pregnant with their first child. The pregnancy wasn’t easy, but Ken tried his best to cater to Selena’s every need. Often times Selena would have crazy food cravings in the middle of the night, like McDonald’s hamburgers, and Ken would have to make the long drive to satisfy her cravings. For the sake of mother and child’s health, Ken even quit his thirteen years smoking habit. And on November 28, 1980, their son Clement was born. Shortly after Clement’s birth, Selena was forced to go back to work as they still have a big mortgage payment to pay, and the maternity benefits in Hong Kong is pretty much non-existent. It was very hard for Selena as a new mother having to be separated from her child for most of the day. One story that she often tells was one evening, on the way back home from work, she saw a child in the mini-van in front kept waving at her. She was wondering if something is wrong, otherwise why is that child so fixated on waving at her. It took her several minutes to realize that it was her son Clement in the mini-van in front. Being the son of one of grandpa Siu-Hoo Hung’s favorite children, Clement caught a lot of his attention. Whenever Clement cried, grandpa Hung only need to hold him in his lap and he would magically stop crying. Even Clement’s Chinese name “Kai Man” was chosen by grandpa Hung. And Selena found the English name Clement, which phonetically complements “Kai Man’ very well. Even though grandpa Hung and Clement’s time together was short lived, as grandpa Hung passed away not too long after his birth, Selena was still thankful that her son was able to bring some joy to his life. On January 20th, 1984, Selena gave birth to her second child Cathy. Cathy was a sweet little girl with not a lot of hair, but always with a big smile on her face. The entire family was delighted of her arrival. She was the little princess of the family. While she was still a baby, little Cathy contracted a lung disease, and the family spent a great deal of time taking her to the doctors. Despite her hectic work schedule, Selena always took time off to bring Cathy to her treatment, never missing a single appointment. Living in the small apartment in Alberdeen made the family very close. With the help of Ken’s sisters, Selena and Ken took great care of their children. They always gave them the best that they could provide, taking them to amusement parks, zoos, and shopping. They also like to travel with their children too. Macau, China, Lantao Island, and many many more short trips, and as always, have an unforgettable journey on each and every occasion. Of course it was not all fun and games, Selena made sure that her children were getting a good education as well. She would help them with homework, sign them up for tutor class, and even help them prepare for tests and examinations. In grade 2, for some reason or another, Clement did very poorly in school, ranking 30 out of 34 in class. That made Selena extremely worried and she took it into her own hands to tutor Clement every night in grade 3. As a result, his grades improved dramatically and he finished in the top ten in his class. But Selena was much more far-sighted than just giving her son tutorial sessions, she realized that the Hong Kong’s educational system may not be the best for her children. And in July 16th, 1989, the entire family immigrated to Canada in hopes that Clement and Cathy would be able to thrive with a western education. The move to Canada was an extremely difficult decision. Having spent all of their lives in Hong Kong, with an established career, and a large group of family and friends, one can imagine the types of sacrifices Selena and Ken had to make all in hopes to providing a better life for their children. Fortunately Rita and her husband Alan lend a big hand in helping the family settle down in their new home in Toronto, and they were able to quickly adapt to the western way of living. The family did struggle a bit in the beginning in looking for a source of income, and Ken got a job as a backup drive transporter for banks. And in 1991, they started their own auto mechanics shop ‘Young’s Auto’ with two partners that they met. While Ken was at work during the day, Selena stayed home to become a housewife. Having worked most of her life, staying home with the children was definitely something new for Selena. Aside from performing all the household chores and tutoring her children, Selena found a hobby in knitting. She knitted everything from sweaters, scarfs, mittens, to cushion covers, and even coasters. Whenever her hand is not occupied, you will find her with her needles knitting away on her new project. Many people were blessed to have received one of her works of art. July 1st, 1993 was the day that the Ng family became Canadian citizens. By that time, the family have completely assimilated into the Canadian way of life. Selena also learned to live frugally, never letting anything to waste and doing everything in her power to reduce the household spending. In 1994, the partnership at Young’s Auto fell apart, and Ken and Selena’s share in the company was bought out. The family went into another state of financial instability. And in 1995, Ken was offered a job in Hong Kong as a debt collector by one of his former Bangkok Bank colleague. The family had no choice but to let Ken leave to support the family. Selena in turn had to take on all the tasks by herself. She had to learn how to drive, how to cook, and how to fix home appliances. It was probably one of the toughest times of her life but she never once complained to anybody. In 1995, Selena took Clement and Cathy to Hong Kong for the first time in 6 years to visit Ken. The visit was short but sweet since Selena missed her husband dearly. Not long after returning to Canada, Selena and Cathy had a terrible car accident, and Ken immediately dropped everything in Hong Kong to take care of the family. Despite the circumstances under which it happened, the Ng family was finally united again. In 1996, Selena started working at her sister Rita’s print shop Sunville Printco. Although it has been a while since Selena stepped back into an office, she was very excited and dedicated. She started off as an administrative assistant, and later took on more tasks on print layouts and other print related duties. Ken would eventually join Sunville as well, working alongside Selena day in and day out. The two become nearly inseparable. Clement graduated high school in 1999. He has decided to study Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. The one and a half hour drive from Toronto didn’t stop Selena and Ken from visiting Clement often. It was around this time that Selena became very ill. Her legs would hurt often, with the skin turning red and feels like burning when being touched lightly. After seeing several different specialists, they were finally able to diagnose her illness to be dermatomyositis, which is a connective-tissue disease related to polymyositis that is characterized by inflammation of the muscles and the skin. The disease is really rare and there is no known treatment for it. The only thing that the doctor can prescribe is to suppress the disease with steroids and a cocktail of different drugs. Selena fought hard with the disease. Even though the drugs were able to contain the muscle pain, it also brought out a lot of side effects. The most apparent would be her fluctuating body weight. Over the years, Selena would receive treatment for complications in her eyes, stomach, nose, bladder, kidney, and lungs, all caused by side effects in the host of drugs she consume every day. Clement graduated from his undergraduate program in 2004, and received his Master's degree in 2006. Cathy would graduate from her Chemical Engineering program from the University of Toronto a year later. Starting from that time, the family spent a lot of time traveling. Family road trips was something the family really enjoyed as it allowed them to spend quality time together while experiencing something different. It was also something that helped Selena to take her mind off the suffering from the disease. In 2004 they went to a water falls hunt in Ontario, which was quite interesting as the family rarely discover places within Ontario other than Niagara region. In 2005 they went to Ottawa for fall scenery and to experience riding a steam train. In 2006 it was New York City and Atlantic City, which was an eye opening experience as the family has never step foot in Manhattan before despite living in North America for over seventeen years. Visiting the Statue of Liberty was definitely the highlight of the trip. Then shortly after was a trip to Mont Tremblant, where a gondola ride to the top of the mountain made them appreciate the vastness of the Canadian landscape. In 2007 the family went to Montreal to celebrate Cathy’s graduation, where they rediscovered the beauty of Old Montreal and enjoyed their first Cirque du Soleil performance. Later that year, they went to Sue Saint Marie to witness the amazing canal gates. In 2008, the family took an incredible journey to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. That was by far one of the most memorable travel moments of their lives. The awe-inspiring scenery at the Canyon left Selena and Ken completely breathless. The numerous attractions and the amazing food at Las Vegas made the family longing for more. In 2009, the Finger Lakes in New York state was the destination of choice. Visiting wineries and gorgeous lakeshore landscapes, it was a much needed relaxation experience. 2010 was a year where the family didn't go for a family trip. Part of the reason was because doctors have found cancer cells in Selena's kidney and bladder. She had to go through a series of operation procedures to cure her from the disease. She also went through a series of operations in both her eyes for treating a severe case of glaucoma. Both the cancer treatment and the eye operation were extremely painful and it took a huge toll on Selena's health. Yet Selena prevailed and all the treatments were performed successfully. As Selena's health begins to recover, Clement and Cathy decided to treat Selena and Ken to a luxurious Caribbean cruise. To be continued...