In Loving Memory of Charles Tsang
Though our father's journey has come to an end, his resilience, courage and love will not be forgotten. On November 24th, 2015, he underwent cervical spine surgery in Shanghai, China that unfortunately went awry and left him paralyzed from the neck down. Having lost control of his diaphragm, he received a tracheostomy and mechanical respiration to save his life. A debilitation like this would be soul-crushing for anyone. But for the sake of his loved ones, he was adamant on getting better.
Losing all trust for China's medical field, we flew my father via SOS service back to Taiwan where there was more medical expertise. The hope was to re-attach his spinal cord that had been severed from his surgery. Though the flight was only a couple hours, there was still much risk involved. But thankfully, the professionalism of the SOS team made it a smooth transition. Unfortunately, too much time had passed since his surgical failure that the Taiwanese doctors determined that long-term care was the only solution. But even with this verdict, he was still certain that he would get better.
In the following four years, he jumped from hospital to hospital in Taiwan and ultimately found the care and hospitality he needed at Taoyuan General Hospital's nursing home. At this point, he had a tracheostomy for 2 years. But with an unrelenting drive and hours upon hours of breathing exercises, he was able to breathe completely on his own without the aid of a machine. This is a phenomenal achievement as the likelihood of weaning off a ventilator is extremely rare if you have been dependent on it for more than 3 months. At Taoyuan General Hospital, he was also able to attend rehab 3 times a week and made much progress in terms of movement. Despite being a quadriplegic, he was able to recuperate some motion in his limbs. 
With all the improvements he made, my parents felt that he was ready to come back to the States so that our family could be together again. So on February 4th, 2020, he mustered up the courage to endure a 14 hour flight back to the US. He got back safely and it was wonderful to see his smile again in person. But sadly, this story doesn't come with a happy ending.
In the following months, the utterly confusing, overwhelming and costly United States healthcare system made it hard for us to seek proper care for our father. We tried our best to balance our own lives while tending to his needs but it wasn't enough. He was diagnosed with Sepsis two weeks prior to his passing which had a mortality rate of 40%. His decision was to not fight it. According to him, he had no regrets for his 60 years on this Earth and didn't want to be a burden to our family any longer. It takes an amazing amount of courage to accept death and even more so to endure his final weeks without the aid of pain medication. At 7:33 am on June 25th, he took his last breath, moved on from this world and entered heaven.
Though his story came to a grim close, this was only the final chapter of his life. If you had read the whole book, you would have enjoyed a story about a simple and loving man braving the process of immigration to bring his family to the United States to live the American Dream. A story of a kind-hearted person climbing the corporate ladder and pursuing his passion for the automotive industry. A story of a responsible man always putting his family first no matter what. A story of high school sweethearts. A story of a foodie, avid traveler and a connoisseur of music. He had much to be proud of in this world and we are even more proud to have called him Dad. 
For those looking to offer their support to Charlie's family, we ask that you consider making a donation to this GoFundMe campaign, and encourage you to please share with your network of friends & family. All proceeds will go towards his funeral expenses on Thursday July 2nd. Please know that any amount is appreciated tremendously. Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about our father's life.