HK Actor Gabriel Harrison Gets Support From Louis Koo & Eric Tsang After His Tearful Plea For Funds For Wife’s Liver Transplant

Earlier this week (Nov 8), Hong Kong actor Gabriel Harrison released a tearful video appealing for help.The 52-year-old suddenly went live on Instagram with the caption “Urgent Liver Transplant Needed”, and pleaded for help to raise medical funds for his ailing wife.

Gabriel’s wife of eight years, makeup artist Effie Mok, was diagnosed with acute liver cirrhosis, and is hospitalised at the Sun Yat-sen Hospital in Guangzhou awaiting a liver transplant.

A visually-distraught Gabriel shared that he had to raise HK$1.5mil (S$251,249) for the surgery, but had only managed to raise HK$700K (S$117,249) at that time. He also stressed that he is not a scammer.

The actor, however, deleted the fundraising video not long after.

Yesterday (Nov 11) morning, he gave an update on the situation. He clarified that his wife indeed suffers from acute liver failure, and explained that his wife was first rushed to Queen Mary Hospital, where doctors said her condition was not optimistic, and was hospitalised for 20 days.

“Our family has been living in the Mainland, and after discussing with our relatives, we decided to transfer her to the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou for treatment,” he divulged.

Five days after Effie was hospitalised, she needed to be transferred to the ICU for emergency treatment.

Deeply affected, Gabriel then filmed the tearful video to post online.

“As there may be a chance for a match, I also needed to understand the surgical recommendations and medical expenses. The hospital’s charges are very transparent,” he explained.

“The doctors believe my wife’s condition is serious, and the hospital estimates the surgery cost at HK$500K (S$80K). But apart from the surgery fee, there will be additional medical expenses.”

Based on initial calculations, the total cost will be at least over HK$1million (S$160K).

Gabriel shared that their family’s savings have already been depleted and it’s difficult to bear the continuously rising medical costs.

“In a state of anxiety and helplessness [I posted the video], I’m very sorry for the clip and for worrying everyone,” he apologised.

Since he posted the video, Gabriel has since received a lot of support and concern from many people.

In particular, he thanked Louis Koo (and the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild that Louis is president of) and TVB general manager Eric Tsang for their help, though he did not elaborate if they had donated money or helped in other ways. He also expressed gratitude to colleagues from his agency, as well as other friends.

According to Gabriel, Effie’s daily treatment requires close coordination and planning with the medical team, and this is all he can share right now.

He hopes to clear up misunderstandings, and once again thanked everyone for their concern and those who have helped them.

The actor also asked that everyone continue to pray for his wife and wished everyone good health.

In a separate interview at the hospital earlier this week, Effie’s mum revealed that her daughter is currently waiting for a liver donor.

She said that every second counts and that this is the most critical and intense period.

However, as they are still awaiting notification from the hospital, she could not disclose many details and said the family hopes to remain as low profile as possible.