HABO: Help out 3-year-old Hannah Warren of Seoul get a new trachea

UPDATE (July 10, 2013):
The news today reported that Hannah died following lung complications after a second surgery. I wrote about it here.

ORIGINAL POST (May 10, 2013):
Last week I wrote about Hannah Warren, the three-year-old daughter of an English teacher from Newfoundland and his wife. She has lived her entire life in a Seoul hospital.

It turns out there is an online fundraising site to help them pay for expenses for the miracle operation whereby they made a new trachea out of little Hannah's stem sells. It's raising money until May 31, 2013. (The site also includes pictures of her doting parents.)

So Kushibo says HABO, as in "help a brother out." Or HASO, as the case may be.

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Two-year-old girl from Seoul gets brand-new windpipe made from her own stem cells

UPDATE 2:
The news today reported that Hannah died following lung complications after a second surgery. I wrote about it here.

UPDATE 1:
As I wrote in this post, there is an online site (Give Forward) to donate funds for Hannah's medical care.

ORIGINAL POST:
This AP story of a little girl whose stem cells were used to create a brand-new trachea would be an inspiring and amazing topic for a post in and of itself.

But it takes on even more significance for this blog because not only is the little girl from Seoul, but her father is an English teacher from Canada, specifically from Newfoundland. I'm guessing some of my regular readers might actually know who this person is.

Here's an excerpt from the AP story (via Huffington Post):

A 2-year-old girl born without a windpipe now has a new one grown from her own stem cells, the youngest patient in the world to benefit from the experimental treatment.

Hannah Warren has been unable to breathe, eat, drink or swallow on her own since she was born in South Korea in 2010. Until the operation at a central Illinois hospital, she had spent her entire life in a hospital in Seoul. Doctors there told her parents there was no hope and they expected her to die.

The stem cells came from Hannah's bone marrow, extracted with a special needle inserted into her hip bone. They were seeded in a lab onto a plastic scaffold, where it took less than a week for them to multiply and create a new windpipe.

About the size of a 3-inch tube of penne pasta, it was implanted April 9 in a nine-hour procedure.

Early signs indicate the windpipe is working, Hannah's doctors announced Tuesday, although she is still on a ventilator. They believe she will eventually be able to live at home and lead a normal life.

"We feel like she's reborn," said Hannah's father, Darryl Warren.

"They hope that she can do everything that a normal child can do but it's going to take time. This is a brand new road that all of us are on," he said in a telephone interview. "This is her only chance but she's got a fantastic one and an unbelievable one."

Warren choked up and his wife, Lee Young-mi, was teary-eyed at a hospital news conference Tuesday. Hannah did not attend because she is still recovering from the surgery. She developed an infection after the operation but now is acting like a healthy 2-year-old, her doctors said.

Kudos to the Catholic hospital that made this expensive operation affordable, as well as the amazing Italian doctor who also helped make it a possibility.

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Let's do the HABO again...

Michael Milne, whom I wrote about here, is still in need of money for his liver transplant. Here is an update from December 8:

Both Mick and Randall have come out of surgery, and the doctors have said that everything went well. Randall will recover in the hospital for about a week, and Mick will be in ICU isolation for two weeks, and then recovery in the hospital for another two weeks or so.

Thank you again, to everyone for all of your support! Your donations of time, money and prayers have made a difference!

We are elated that things have gone well, and we are still making the effort to raise the money needed to pay for all of the medical bills.

Please pass on the news, and the necessity for more donations. We have reached the 15 million mark - which is amazing - thank you so much!!

We still need more in order to reach the quoted 40 - 50 million won out of pocket expenses. Mick will not be able to work for the time he is recovering, please help him and his family out!

The account information is at both links above, and there's now a PayPal account (mick.milne@gmail.com).

In contrast to the situation with Matt Robinson, to whom I got money to right away, I've only just now been able to get my own donation out to Michael Milne (this being the end of the semester I have almost no cash available here in the US and the person who manages my money in Korea was unable to do this until just this week), and I'm hoping my fellow procrastinators might do the same.

On a not-completely-but-mostly-unrelated note, I want to share a nice story about Delta Airlines. "M," whom I've mentioned here and there at this blog, had to fly to Japan yesterday because her aunt suffering from endometrial cancer had taken a turn for the worse. "M" already had a ticket to fly out to Osaka next Thursday, but she decided to forgo finals and be by her aunt. Even before we could change the flight to the  following day (this past Friday), she got news that her aunt had already passed. Needless to say, "M" was distraught, and I called Delta Airlines while she packed.

I explained the situation and the kind woman at Delta told me there was a seat available the following day but it would be $268 to change her departure. That was better than what the discount ticket agent had told her, that she could cancel the entire ticket for a $300 fee, after which she would buy another ticket (which was surprisingly cheap on kayak.com). We told the Delta agent that the $268 fee was acceptable and we waited for her to process it.

While we waited we were on hold, but the agent eventually came back. She asked for "M's" aunt's name and hospital, which I provided. More waiting, but when she came back she said she found a way that the entire change could be done for a fee of just $13.

Very cool of Delta Airlines to do that. It helped make a difficult situation a little bit less so, and that agent (and the airline) deserves some kudos and our thanks for that.

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Kushibo says HABO (again)

As in, "help a brother out" (again).

It seems one Michael Milne, a teacher in Miryang in the southern part of South Korea, has encountered some serious health concerns that involve the need for a liver transplant. He needs a liver, your prayers, and (if you're able) some cash. The details can be found here.

The Facebook page in that link includes the information for fundraisers and bank transfers within Korea (and I suppose outside of Korea, but for a hefty fee), and they're working on setting up a PayPal account.

I'm one of those there-but-for-the-grace-of-God kind of people, so as soon as I can get access to my money within South Korea, I'm in for 100K won (bank account details below).

Nonghyup Bank 

(농협은행, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation)

Name: 마이클 (Michael Milne)

Account number: 811057 52 067773

And if anyone knows any more details on his condition, please feel free to leave some information.

UPDATE:
I belatedly saw that Brian in Chŏllanamdo also has put up a post on this which includes useful information on the blood/organ donation issue. One of his commenters asks about the insurance issue, which I also addressed below (the lengthy third comment).

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Giving the Tohoku and Fukushima disaster-affected people what they need

"M" has alerted me to a Japanese-language website, called Fukkoichiba (literally, "Revival Market"), that aims to directly connect donors to the victims of the Tohoku earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear disaster.

In short, it works by filling requests from the affected people with donors who will fill those specific needs. You can see the various items — flip-flops, various food items, cooking oil, Pocari Sweat, and even underwear — on the site and then go and buy the stuff. You can then leave your name or a userid that says you bought it.

Unfortunately, the site is only in Japanese right now, although "M," herself a busy student, offered to translate it into English so it could reach a wider audience. For now, though, the couple that set up the site on their spare time are lacking the resources to take it globally.

"M" noted that it's heartbreaking to see the stuff people still lack. Even all these months after the earthquake and the tsunami, these are the basic needs that people still are having difficulty getting. But that aspect of this site is what drew her to it: she remembers previous disasters where so much stuff that was not needed ended up being discarded.

An added feature of this site is a blog full of pictures where many of the grateful recipients show the stuff they received (no, they are not standing around in the aforementioned underwear). Note that many of the people in the pictures are still living in gymnasiums and other places that have been covered into long-term shelters.

"M" felt that added an element of really feeling like you're accomplishing something with your donation, a bit different from sending money to a large organization like the Red Cross, which does extremely important work in an efficient way, but puts donations in a pool, thus preventing you from knowing where your money actually went.

Anyway, if there's anyone around you who can help you muddle through the Japanese on the site, go and see about donating. With the nuclear issue still unresolved and cleanup an on-going process, there's still a lot of need out there.

HABO of the day: Got B-negative blood? Get thee to Kwangju!

Seriously, over at Brian's there is a post on someone who needs B-negative blood for a transfusion. If that's what you have, or if you know someone who does, then call them and please make a trip to Kwangju (if you're not already there):

Long-time friend of GIC is now feeling sick and need blood transfusions.

His blood type is Rh-B (Type: B, RH -) and he needs several transfusions.
If you can help out please call 011.9943.8066 or if you can speak Korean call 061-379-7963(Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital).

You can also go the Red Cross downtown near the police station and they can do tests if you don't already know what type you are.

Kindly pass along this message to your friends/ contacts in and around Gwangju.
Any kind of help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Sincerely,
Gwangju International Center

And like I said at Brian's, please consider, regardless of your blood type, going to the local blood bank to give blood and/or put your data in the bone marrow registry. Roboseyo has some good links that will help you do this.

This really is one of those good-karma, what-goes-around-comes-around things: It will be there when/if you need it because you helped put it there.

Besides, they might have cookies.

Despite what the truthers claim, this is not a scam run by vampires.

Kushibo says HABO

As in, "help a brother out."

It seems one Matt Robinson has encountered some serious health concerns while in Korea (temporarily) on a tourist visa. Brian has the details here, where you can read about the thrombosis and the possible amputation and the what not. Here are more details on Facebook.

His bills are expected to run to about 10 million and the surgery he needs has to be paid up front or else he'll be booted out of the hospital, say the people who have put up the Facebook information page. 

I'm one of those there-but-for-the-grace-of-God kind of people, so I'm in for 100K won (bank account details below). 

Frankly, having been duped in the past by horror stories of people in desperate need, I would have liked to see a bit more confirmation of this guy's dire straits from people with whom I'm familiar, but the support network for this guy seems too complex to be a hoax, and if it is a Kari Ferrell level of elaborate deception, well then they deserve the money for all that effort, I s'pose. (By the way, I'm still not convinced that Salvador/Beau Smith was a real case, and my email to the sheriff in the rural county where he was supposedly from remains unanswered.)

So like I said, I'm in for 100K won. And by "100K won," I mean  a hundred thousand won, not 100 Korean won, though sending a 100-won coin is just the kind of sneaky, a-holeish thing kushibo would do, then turn around and say everyone misunderstood what I'd said. I'm just that vile. At least, that's what anonymous people in the K-blogs tell me.

Here's the information if you'd like to risk being a dupe and would like to do something for humanity (or for yourself, if you're one of those "do unto others" Jesus freaks or a "what goes around comes around" pragmatist looking for a payoff down the road). 

Account number: 481-007433-01-011

Bank: IBK (Industrial Bank of Korea, 기업은행)

Name on account: 매티유로 (short for Matthew Robinson)

If you do donate money, consider leave a comment here saying so, or at least email me. That way if you ever end up in the hospital with massive bills that you can't pay, I won't hesitate at all to send 100K won your way either (and I hoped you'd do the same for me). That's sort of how insurance works. 

And speaking of insurance, later on after this guy's okay, I'm going to post some very pointed remarks about how he got in this situation in the first place. Some of them will be bagging on his own bad choices, but it will be done as a form of tough love, and also as a way to use his own shitty situation as an object lesson for others. Because, as we public health types are so fond of preaching to everyone else until their ears bleed, prevention is hella cheaper and easier on the bod than fixing something after it's broke, which will often make you broke. 

Some of these comments will actually be questions why, knowing that he'd had problems like this, he would allow his insurance to lapse or that he didn't try to get traveler's insurance or something. Or, for that matter, how after three years he would not have 10 million won saved up.

I'd also like to know what the Friends of Matt group is going to do if they surpass the money needed. I'd like to see someone I trust (e.g., Brian, Marmot, the head of KOTESOL) keep that money in trust so that we have it ready for the next time — God forbid — we end up with a bad case like that of Bill Kapoun or Nerine Viljoen, requiescant in pace. 

Sure, those questions and concerns in this time of need make me a jerk, but I'm being a jerk so we don't have to see the next guy's crippled limbs extended in a hand-out gesture. Kushibo is a purposeful jerk, even though that may make me seem less vile. Maybe I'll go drown a kitten or something. 

Some of my pointed questions/statements will deal also with the Korea health insurance system itself. I'm thinking one of the things ATEK or KOTESOL or the Kushibo Foundation ought to do is lobby the health insurance corporation to allow people in Matt's situation (returning on tourist visa after work visa ends to look for a job) to keep paying into insurance — up front — and get the benefits. This would actually be a low-risk proposition to the insurance bureau, since such people would generally be younger or presumably lower risk. For every Matt you get with a 10 million won surgery bill, you'd get hundreds more whose 100K or 200K per month premiums won't require any payouts. 

But all that's for a later post. Okay, now go donate some money.

(no kittens were harmed in the making of this post)