People
Exhausted but not defeated:
Man-hon's mum keeps up 7-year search
Years of long and tiring search have taken toll on Mrs Yu’s health. The mother suffered from polio when she was three. She has borne the pain and other muscle problems in her right leg ever since, and the condition has deteriorated after Man-hon’s disappearance.
She needs to visit the hospital regularly for physiotherapy and rely on a cane and a knee brace for support when she walks.
“I am exhausted, really exhausted,” Mrs Yu said repeatedly, but adding she had never thought of giving up, not even once. “No matter how exhausted I am, I will continue (to look for Man-hon) until I die one day,” she said.
The mother has changed the tactics because of the deteriorating health. “I used to rush to any reported spots…That was painstaking. I ask for photos from the source now (before going to the spot),” she said.
The possible loss of her autistic son has been Mrs Yu’s continual worry even before Man-hon’s disappearance, and she was diagnosed with depression in 1999.
Her mental condition has worsened over the last few years, with uncertainty and anxiety keep haunting her. She needs to take antidepressant, but she said the medication had made her very forgetful. A “checking sign” is stuck next to the flat’s door as a reminder for Mrs Yu to check the stove before going out.
The mother is still living under the shadow of the tragedy after seven years. “I think of him all the time,” she said, “It is the same for me (feeling unhappy) every day, thinking of him every second.”
Many people have told Mrs Yu that she should give up searching and let her grief fade over time. But time has not healed her pain.
“Everything can be forgotten over time, but not the love for your children,” she said.
She is just like a mother waiting for her son to be back from school. The longer she waits, the more anxious she becomes, Mrs Yu said.
The regretful mother has also been living with guilt. She reproached herself for letting Man-hon run away.
“Whenever I think of Man-hon suffering alone on the mainland, I cannot help but continue looking for him,” she sobbed.
A map of China is put on the wall to help Mrs Yu’s search for her son.
Mrs Yu feels guilty of letting Man-hon run away.
