Antoine d’Haussy’s wife Charissa Chau, the love of his life and mother to their three-year-old son Aymeric, died in January 2026 at just 40 years old, leaving him in a world of pain. He turned his grief into a meaningful way to celebrate her life, and hopes others will find solace in turning to his solution.

For 18 months, Chau had tangled with glioblastoma, a rare, highly aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer that few survive. Within 30 days of her death, d’Haussy hit on a purposeful mission: he launched a crowdfunding campaign that quickly attracted more than HK$811,000 (US$103,000).

His drive stands out in the world of health fundraising. Most personal campaigns understandably spring from the need to cover medical bills, and d’Haussy, 46, indeed set up his to sustain his family through the financial upheaval of a terminal diagnosis. But he also set it up to raise funds for laboratory research and accelerate finding a cure, so other families did not suffer the same loss.

Glioblastoma, which represents roughly 0.01 per cent of the 20 million new cancer cases reported globally each year, is devastatingly swift – the average survival rate is just 15 months. It is the same aggressive cancer that claimed the lives of high-profile figures like British author Sophie Kinsella (aged 55, in 2025) and US Senator John McCain (aged 81, in 2018).

For the d’Haussy family, a subtle warning flashed in May 2024. Chau, a dynamic Net-a-Porter marketing executive, had fleeting speech difficulties. At the time, the couple dismissed it as simple fatigue from new motherhood and a demanding career.

But in July that year, her trouble speaking returned. An MRI showed a 3cm (1.2-inch) brain tumour. Glioblastoma was the confirmed diagnosis.