ICYMI: Update on Emily Choi

Please remember the Choi’s on this Lord’s Day…


sweet emily

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

The end is near. Emily’s condition took a dramatic downturn on Tuesday. And already, it is clear that as valiantly as she’s been fighting, this is a battle she is unlikely to win. Disease has ravaged and overtaken her entire body, leaving it frail, broken, and weak. She has nothing left to give. We have nothing left to give. All we can do now is sit by and listen to every faint and labored breath.

20 months ago, cancer viciously invaded our lives. Somehow along the way, we learned to cope with its reality. But nothing could prepare us for what we are facing now.

Watching your child die a slow and painful death is the kind of hell that no parent should have to experience. But this is where we find ourselves.

We’re still exploring alternative treatments but we’ve already met with hospice care and frankly speaking, we don’t know how much time Emily has left. It might be a few days, or a few weeks. But if her rapidly worsening state is any indication, we don’t expect that it will be very long.

As always, we ask for your prayers. Surely it will pain you to read these words, as much as it has pained me to write them. But you’ve walked alongside us through so much, and now we hope that you’re willing to go on just a little bit farther.

There is grace to be found even in death. If this is indeed the end, we are hoping it will be comfortable, peaceful, painless. We also ask for space and privacy as our family spends time with Emily during her final days.

Thank you.

Andrew Ong

Andrew is a third-generation, San Francisco Bay Area ABC (American Born Chinese). He and his third-gen wife have two daughters and still live in the East Bay. After graduating from the University of California Irvine and Westminster Theological Seminary, he completed his PhD in World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, researching Chinese American evangelicals and Neo-Calvinist theology. He presently serves on staff at Christ Church East Bay in Berkeley, California. Andrew's a simple guy whose passions include: sushi, pizza, nachos, and the Golden State Warriors. On his less sanctified days he lives by the maxim: #ballislife.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.