Posted on: Thursday, November 25, 2004
Blood recipients thankful for donors' precious gift
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
The ones whom the Takahashi family of Kane'ohe would like most to acknowledge on this day of giving thanks are people whose names will remain a mystery.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser "I was really scared," the King Intermediate School eighth-grader said.
After the risky procedure ended, the family learned that it had cost their daughter a lot of her B-positive blood. Replacement pints from the Blood Bank of Hawai'i had made the ordeal survivable, which is why Rebecca was at the organization's Dillingham headquarters yesterday presenting blood donors with thank-you bookmarks bearing her photo.
The gesture was part of a Blood Bank effort to encourage donations. Last year, 25,341 donors gave 53,970 pints. Each pint can save up to three lives, depending on whether the blood is used whole or divided into red blood cells, platelets and plasma, said spokeswoman Stephanie Rosso.
To make an appointment, call the blood bank at 845-9966, or visit www.bbh.org. • Yolanda Domingo of Pearl City, a mother of three who needed blood during transplant surgery. • Mary Chanthabandit, 18, who receives blood regularly because of a genetic blood disorder. • Emily Wheaton, a 13-year-old student at Mililani Middle School who received pints of blood during leukemia treatments. • Kailua resident Brandt Izumo, 12, who needs blood during treatments for Crohn's Disease. Brandt is in remission for the second time since the 2001 episode of this gastrointestinal disease that triggered the need for a transfusion of nine pints, said his mother, Ashlyn Izumo. Crohn's is a little-understood ailment that causes internal bleeding that can be controlled through drugs.
"There is no cure," she said. "May he never have to use blood (again) but if he does ... well, that's why we're involved with the Blood Bank."
Even before Brandt's diagnosis, his mom was a blood donor and ran a drive for a niece who suffered from leukemia. She then realized how many people dread the needle — a fear she admits sharing.
"My phobia was taken over by the fear of my son not having the ability to have blood," she said.
Those without phobias can be precluded from giving blood because of an exposure to a disease or myriad other reasons. Jamie Takahashi, for example, said she was a donor before she began taking a prescription medication.
Howard Takahashi, Rebecca's karate teacher as well as her dad, was a donor even before his daughter's surgery. He still gives blood, with perhaps an extra helping of inspiration.
The day after Rebecca finished radiation treatments and while still hairless as a result of her ordeal, she competed in another karate competition and won, her mother said.
"People were screaming her name," she said. "The other moms told me, 'We're just happy to see her back out there. ... She has another chance.' "
Her classmates were at school as usual yesterday, but Rebecca — and her 14-year-old sister, Katie — had parental permission for an extra day off to issue the thank-you notes to donors.
"I pull her out of school for the Blood Bank," Jamie Takahashi said.
"It's more important," Rebecca added.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
They are the people who gave daughter Rebecca, now 13, a precious gift in August 2002 when doctors were battling to save her life. Rebecca, the daughter of Howard and Jamie Takahashi, had just won the gold in the age-10 division at a national karate championship when she started feeling ill with a headache and nausea. An MRI revealed a cancerous brain tumor, and Rebecca was admitted immediately for surgery. She remembers very little of that.
Rebecca Takahashi has expressed her thanks at the Blood Bank of Hawai'i, where prolific donors are honored with their portraits on the wall. Rebecca, 13, received blood during brain surgery in 2002.
Four other blood recipients gave their pre-Thanksgiving thanks, too:
To give blood
