Eyeworld

EW IN OTHER NEWS 136 March 2016 by Liz Hillman EyeWorld Staff Writer Retired surgeon started a diary as a boy and now has 3 published memoirs on his life from China to medical school in the U.S. and beyond I t's not everyday someone admits they're "proud to be average," but that's just how James Y. Hung, MD, Honolulu, feels—but he throws in a bit of a caveat. He didn't graduate top of his class. In fact, he didn't even receive a bachelor's degree. "I was average in medical school. To be average among those super achievers, I was very proud," Dr. Hung said, explaining a com- ment he made in the second of his 3 self-published memoirs. "I was proud to be average in medical school because there are so many brains in medical school and there was no way I could compete with them. But I always try to do my best. Everything I embark on, I work very, very hard." After a somewhat unorthodox road to (and through) medical school and into his practice of oph- thalmology, Dr. Hung, now retired, is refining his hobby of writing and devoting his time and resources to volunteering in a remote region of China. "When I was 7 years old, I began writing my diary. Even at 7 years old, I only knew a few words of Chinese but I was able to get most of my thoughts into my book," he said. "I've always kept a diary since then. I've always enjoyed writing, and it has carried into my writing these books." Since 2012, Dr. Hung has pub- lished 1 memoir a year—Finding Fat Lady's Shoe, F.O.B. in Paradise, and Silk Road on My Mind. In these books, he reveals everything from the details of his early life as a refugee to his time in medical school and career in the U.S. to his retirement activities, which included bringing eyecare to the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, a territory in northwest China that is home to part of the Silk Road. Dr. Hung's story starts during the Chinese Civil War. At just 3 years old, with the name Yum Yuen, meaning "duty far way" in Can- tonese, his family was among the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Communist China for Hong Kong, which was then a British territory. Dr. Hung said his father, who worked for the previous government in China at the time, would have been killed if they didn't leave. Recounting his life as an outsid- er in Hong Kong, then Malaysia, and back to Hong Kong all before he was 16 years old, Dr. Hung said the most marked difference between the 2 cultures was the level of diversity. "Hong Kong was—and it still is—very homogenous as a society," he said. "But in Malaysia there are many, many nationalities—the Retinal specialist turns writing hobby into more during retirement Having finished 12th grade, Dr. Hung boarded the American passenger liner President Cleveland on August 6, 1965, bound for the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. It was 6 years before he saw his parents again. " When I was 7 years old, I began writing my diary. … I've always kept a diary since then. I've always enjoyed writing, and it has carried into my writing these books. " –James Y. Hung, MD Dr. Hung in the waiting room of his office in Fresno, Calif., before his retirement Source: James Y. Hung, MD

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