Former jailed ringleader of Hong Kong’s Occupy movement Shiu Ka-chun reveals cancer battle

Former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun has said doctors performed emergency surgery to remove half of his stomach due to cancer and he has lost 15kg (33lbs) in weight as a result.

Shiu, 55, revealed the stomach cancer diagnosis on social media on Sunday and shared pictures of himself on a hospital bed praying before eating a meal.

He said a tumour analysis would determine whether he needed to undergo chemotherapy or other medical treatment.

The former legislator from the social welfare sector was one of the nine key figures of Hong Kong’s Occupy movement in 2014 and was jailed for eight months in 2019 for his role in the 79-day protest that called for universal suffrage.

Shiu said he was misdiagnosed several times last month after experiencing gastrointestinal discomfort.

He said a general practitioner first diagnosed him with excessive stomach acid and prescribed medication, before a gastroenterologist told him he had gastritis.

As the prescribed medication made him feel even worse, he sought a hospital consultation, with doctors suspecting a duodenal obstruction.