| Clickables
Login
Main Menu
Search
|
|
Posted by: Timmy on Jun 14, 2009 - 02:02 PM
National
|
Eleven-year-old Hiroki Ando will likely die if he does not get a new heart.
Hiroki suffers from cardiomyopathy, which inflames and impairs the heart. The same disease killed his sister five years ago.
"We have two children in our family who got a disease that happens one out of every 100,000 people. I am sorry for my children. We are having my daughter and Hiroki going through this harsh experience," said father Ryuki Ando.
"We were told by his doctor at the end of last year that the heart transplant operation was the only way for him to survive," Ando said.
But the law in Japan prohibits anyone under the age of 15 from donating organs -- meaning Hiroki can't get a new heart in his home country.
According to the web site for Japan Transplant Network, a non-governmental group that supports changing Japan's transplant law, "this stipulation has greatly reduced the possibility of transplants to small children; heart transplants to small children have become impossible."
Lawmaker Taro Kono is spearheading efforts to change the law, which was enacted in 1997. Japan's parliament is now debating four proposed amendments-- including one that would scrap the age limit. But, beyond the age matter, the issue of organ transplantation in general, has been a difficult one for the country because of perceptions of brain death. Some refuse to accept it if their loved ones' hearts are still beating.
"For a long time, it's the heart that mattered in Japan. Some religions ask us not to declare being brain dead as death. But that is not the majority," Kono said. "So it is simply that we have been doing things this way and a lot of people are very skeptical about it."
Kono, who gave a kidney to his father, said a total of 81 organ transplants have been conducted in Japan since the transplant law was enacted in 1997, whereas nearly thousands of transplants occur in the United States each year.
"A lot of people in Japan waiting for a transplant, waiting for a liver, a heart, other organs, most of them just die simply because they couldn't get any organs," he said.
Kono said he believes the public supports changing the law to allow organ donation from children, noting that "when the parents of the child are going on the street asking for donations, they can actually raise more than a million dollars."
Incredibly, that's just what Hiroki's family has done. They started a group called "helping Hiroki" and raised $1.7 million in donations.
"It was very tough to get the donations, but so many people from all over Japan donated the money," he said. "It was not only the money, but so many letters and messages to energize us, sent to the group. We realized there are so many people supporting us, and they are the reason that we made it this far and will be able to continue after going to the U.S."
Hiroki is now at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, awaiting a new heart. His father says he knows that the transplant issue is a difficult one for families.
"The honest wish from the recipient's side is to have a donor show up as soon as possible," he said, pausing. "I still do not know whether I can make a decision to give my child's heart to someone else if I am faced with such a situation. But unless the people face the issue and think about it seriously, I do not think the time will come soon to see more people volunteering to donate organs."
Ando said he hopes that one day he will be able to play baseball with his son, who is an avid sports fan.
"I would like to have a fun time again with Hiroki. I would like to make it home with everyone in good health," he said. "That's the biggest hope I have now."
Ando's mother wrote in a blog on her Web site (http://www.hirokikun.jp/) that Hiroki was high on the waiting list for a heart transplant in New York.
"I believe Hiroki will be all right," she wrote.
|
|
|
|
Poll
JA Online
| MEMBERS ONLINE | | 
You are an anonymous user. You can register for free by clicking here |
| |
Todays Big Story
Other Stories
- China and Japan Bristle Over Disputed Chain of Islands
(Sep 10, 2010)
- Young Japanese Seek Second, and Third, Jobs
(Sep 06, 2010)
- Japan Airlines slashes workforce
(Sep 01, 2010)
- Japan’s Leader Says He’ll Move to Rein In Surging Yen
(Aug 29, 2010)
- New Dissent in Japan Is Loudly Anti-Foreign
(Aug 28, 2010)
- Signature Blends at Tokyo Bars
(Aug 28, 2010)
- Japanese media get tour of death chamber
(Aug 27, 2010)
- Japan's struggle with deflation worsens as prices fall
(Aug 27, 2010)
- Japan police arrest relatives of dead 'centenarian'
(Aug 27, 2010)
- In Japan, Party Ex-Leader Will Challenge Premier
(Aug 27, 2010)
Past Articles
- Friday, August 06
- Japan tanker was damaged in a terror attack, UAE says
- Wednesday, August 04
- Japan loses track of citizens
- Friday, July 30
- China overtakes Japan as No.2 economy: FX chief
- Wednesday, July 21
- Japan Training Program Is Said to Exploit Workers
- Tuesday, July 13
- Revealing Japan's low-tech belly
- Monday, July 05
- Sumo’s Ties to Japan Underworld Go Beyond Limits
- Thursday, July 01
- Japanese business confidence at two-year high
- South Korean star Park Yong-Ha found dead
- Tuesday, June 15
- Report: Women could boost Japanese workforce if concessions are made
- Sunday, June 13
- Japan’s Prime Minister Warns That Debt Could Bring a Crisis Like That of Greece
Older articles
|
