4 days Ago By Kelly Ho
Ivy Ip was 41 years old when she was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer in July 2021. The Hong Kong resident first noticed constant stomach pain, which she thought was triggered by stress from working in the jewellery sales industry. When she was admitted to a hospital for a thorough gastrointestinal check-up, nurses discovered that her blood oxygen level was far below normal.
Ivy Ip (left) and her husband participated in a couples’ art therapy group at the Hong Kong Cancer Fund to create wool felt neck scarves. The workshop was led by art therapist Tang Hoi-lam (right). Photo: Hong Kong Cancer Fund.
Medics rushed her to do an X-ray, which revealed that one side of her lungs had turned white and was filled with liquid. After spending days in the hospital, doctors told Ip that she had cancer. The diagnosis did not come as a complete shock to Ip, whose mother succumbed to cancer in her 30s.
Several of her maternal relatives also passed away due to the disease.“I thought my hereditary genes were strong,” Ip, now 45, told HKFP in an interview last month. “Since I was a child, I had imagined the day when I would find out I had cancer.
I just did not expect this day to come so soon.” Ip documented her fight against cancer on social media. On her Instagram page, created two weeks after her diagnosis, she shared a sketch of the chemotherapy infusion she received at Queen Mary Hospital on August 16, 2021.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Path of Grace 恩典之路 🤍 (@ivy_pathofgrace)The drawing showed the tube that transmitted the drug into Ip’s veins, forming the word “Love.” “There is no fear in love,” Ip wrote in both English and Chinese, quoting a Bible verse from 1 John 4:18. Art therapy Creating art has become a crucial part of Ip’s ongoing battle with cancer.
Despite undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy, her cancer spread to multiple parts of her body, leading to the removal of her ovary, uterus, spleen, gallbladder, and other organs.A ceramic flower made by Ivy Ip. Photo: Hong Kong Cancer Fund.
Ip was too weak to go to work, but she refused to let her treatment consume all of her time and energy. Since 2022, she has immersed herself in various art forms by joining free art therapy programmes offered by the Hong Kong Cancer Fund. From ceramics to oil pastel paintings, the activities have helped take her mind off her health condition.
She said the goal of the programmes was not to create the most refined or aesthetically pleasing pieces, but rather to transport her into a state of calmness and peace. Different art media also offered her solace during times when she did not respond well to the treatment.“There are so many things that can make a ceramic piece go wrong, and you need a lot of courage to start over,” Ip said.
“When I make ceramics, I feel that I am actually learning to embrace imperfections.” Self imageThe art-making workshop that struck Ip the most was one of the first activities she signed up for, which encouraged participants to reflect on their “inner beauty.” It was an emotional experience for the group, Ip recalled, as many struggled with self-confidence after losing hair due to their treatment or having parts of their bodies removed.
Through painting a self-portrait and making her own sculpture, Ip said, she learned to accept the changes in her body and her new self. Art supplies for art therapy workshops at the Hong Kong Cancer Fund Jockey Club Support Centre (Kwai Chung). Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Ip also invited her husband to take part in art therapy programmes and make art together. The activities gave him “a break,” she said, as he had suffered from a lot of stress as a caregiver. “The therapy sessions allow caregivers to leave home and not think about treatment-related concerns for a while.
They return with better energy to resume caregiving,” she said.Ivy Ip. Photo: Hong Kong Cancer Fund.
Ip has created 20 pieces of artwork over the years and will be showcasing nine of them at an upcoming solo exhibition titled “Life Is Beautiful,” sponsored by the Cancer Fund.Tang Hoi-lam, a registered art therapist who guided Ip through various programmes, told HKFP that the exhibition would embody Ip’s positivity and the different facets of life despite facing a critical illness.“It is scary to hear the word ‘cancer,’ but life is not just about death.
The biggest takeaway is that life has a lot of layers and meanings,” Tang said. ‘Overwhelmed’ with positivity Ip was one of more than 1,600 people who joined the Cancer Fund’s art therapy workshops in the 2023-24 fiscal year, the non-profit group told HKFP. There were 65 programmes offered during that period.
Art therapists at the organisation also conduct separate counselling sessions with individual patients. Art therapist Tang Hoi-lam. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Tang, 40, joined the Cancer Fund in 2020 after working as an art therapist for more than a decade. Her practice began in the US, where she worked with individuals with severe trauma. When her father had a cancer relapse, Tang returned to Hong Kong in late 2010.
Having worked with many cancer patients at the non-profit group, Tang said it could be challenging to lead a group therapy programme. Some participants were more optimistic about their illness than others, which could make the rest of the group feel “overwhelmed.”Even with a screening mechanism in place to assess the mental and physical condition of the participants before the workshops, Tang and her colleagues may still encounter patients who felt uncomfortable during the classes.
“I have clients who tell me that they find it hard when the group is so positive. They lose their voice sometimes. For the positive clients, sometimes they feel uncomfortable exploring the negative,” Tang said.
Art therapist Tang Hoi-lam. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Working with individual patients can pose an even greater challenge, the art therapist said.
Some patients become too weak to attend counselling sessions, and Tang may “lose contact” with them as they near the end of their lives.It is “quite saddening,” she said.Tang still finds it difficult to cope with the passing of her clients, especially those who die young.
“It is not easy, but the patients always remind us that we need to live in the moment,” she said.Ip began a new round of chemotherapy treatment last month. When she spoke with HKFP over the phone in late March, she said she could see a tumour growing near her belly button.
Her doctors are doing their best to contain the cancer, but the medicine is not very effective, she said. An oil pastel painting by Ivy Ip. Photo: Hong Kong Cancer Fund.
Ip is unsure whether she can attend the exhibition in person, but she hopes that visitors – whom she expects to be mostly fellow cancer patients – will find comfort and inner peace amid their challenges. Having seen many fellow patients pass away in recent years, Ip said she decided not to “waste time” on grieving.She is planning a long trip to Europe with her husband in late May to visit their friends in the UK, and to set foot in Denmark to see people living in one of the world’s happiest countries.
“Treatment is tough, but do not fixate on the challenges,“ she said. “Do the things you like, and feel the beauty of life.” “Life is Beautiful” – An Exhibition by Ivy IpDate: April 14 – 25, 2025.
Time: 1pm – 8pm.Venue: Breathing Room.Address: 30/F Bayfield Building, 99 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
Website: Ivy Ip – Path of Grace.April 17, 7.30pm – 9pm – closed for private event.
April 18, 3.00pm – 4.30pm – sharing session (online registration in advance only).
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