There once was a Japanese girl named Hanako. She was born with an intractable heart disease that caused her spine to curve in a manner that threatened her life. At the age of eight, she and her family had to go to Germany to have a life-saving cardiac transplant performed. At age fifteen, she lost her voice when she had a ventilator tube inserted directly into her windpipe. At that time, she also needed to start very unpleasant dialysis treatments, and in order to do this, she needed to be at the hospital constantly. After awhile of this, she decided that she would rather live at home with her parents as normally as she could, without the dialysis treatments. Her family respected her choice. This decision allowed her to live like herself in her home with her family for some time. She was able to have dinner with her family and feel like an ordinary child again. But pretty soon, her body began to show the effects of the discontinuation of the treatments. Her body started to swell and she became lethargic. Her father was heartbroken by this, because it meant she was dying. He consulted her doctor about continuing treatment, but in response to this, Hanako wrote him a letter saying, "I've had enough medication. I know you are worried when you see my body swelling up, but this is my choice. Please don't be so difficult."
She passed away September 2010 at the age of 18.
Sometimes it's not about how long we can live - it's more about how we can live.
There are some of us who, if we were to find ourselves in a situation of choosing between a prolonged life of torturous medical treatments and a peaceful escape, we may just make the same decision Hanako did.
Please watch this video (20 minute NHK closeup in Japanese):
http://cgi4.nhk.or.jp/gendai/kiroku/deta...nt_id=2977 (the red button by the pictures that says 「動画を見る」)
These are the kinds of stories that allow us to think about our lives and really appreciate them as the way they are.
[/sermon] Hehe
edit: By the way, I do expect to see a lot of views but not many comments, since it may be an awkward subject for some. If so, so be it. If not, prove me wrong
She passed away September 2010 at the age of 18.
Sometimes it's not about how long we can live - it's more about how we can live.
There are some of us who, if we were to find ourselves in a situation of choosing between a prolonged life of torturous medical treatments and a peaceful escape, we may just make the same decision Hanako did.
Please watch this video (20 minute NHK closeup in Japanese):
http://cgi4.nhk.or.jp/gendai/kiroku/deta...nt_id=2977 (the red button by the pictures that says 「動画を見る」)
These are the kinds of stories that allow us to think about our lives and really appreciate them as the way they are.
[/sermon] Hehe
edit: By the way, I do expect to see a lot of views but not many comments, since it may be an awkward subject for some. If so, so be it. If not, prove me wrong
Edited: 2010-12-15, 10:40 pm
I've heard of 1 Litre of Tears and how much of a tear jerker it is, so I'm not quite brave enough to sit through it (I get beyond sad when I watch these kinds of things - I'm surprised I could watch this video without laying in bed crying all day)
