Leukemia Victim Leaves Diary Behind

Lee Jeong-pyo (age 13), a sixth grader at Deungchon Elementary School, wanted to be a writer someday.

“My little boy wrote in his diary every single day just like he was preparing a religious ceremony,” said his mother, Kim Sun-gyu (41).

He was obsessed with his diary. Even when his fingers were too weak to grab a pencil, he wrote it with the help of his mom, dictating while his mom transcribed.

His diary was his hope. It was a sign that he was still alive. Whenever he felt extreme pain, he tried to write about his pain and devastation. He had a dream. He wanted to publish a novel and become a writer. The source of the novel in his mind was his diary.

However, his planned novel about his struggle with cancer will not be written. He died on January 14, and the last entry in his diary was January 11. But his diary is as moving as a best-seller novel and as dramatic as the best play in history. A little boy’s diary highlights for us the real lives of 5,000 child cancer patients and their families in Korea.

The Korean Make-A-Wish Foundation (www.wish.or.kr), a charity that realizes the wishes of children with incurable diseases, published his diary as a book. The book was placed in front of his picture at his funeral on January 15.

Getting Sick-

“I got sick. I got leukemia,” reads his dairy’s entry for April 20, 2005.

“My hands are trembling, my writing looks strange. Have not written in too long. On 30 March (2005), I was taken to the hospital on an ambulance due to a severe nosebleed and nausea. On that night, I was so struck by the doctor’s diagnosis, ‘leukemia.’ I had my hair cut like a monk in an aseptic room. It was a shocking experience. I couldn’t sense breezes, spring flowers, or spring itself.”

His birthday arrived soon.

“On 22 April, I looked forward to today for a whole year. Today is my birthday. But suddenly leukemia attacked my body, and I have to stay at a hospital. How long I’ve waited for today… It is unfair! So sad. How does my long-waited birthday become like nothing! Why my life should be like this!

His news was delivered to his school.

“On 26 April, my school`s principal and student body president will visit me tomorrow. I really appreciate the interest that many friends and people have showed me, an ordinary primary school student. Tomorrow I will finish my anticancer treatments and get a bone marrow test.”

However, bad news arrived during his bone marrow search.

“On 29 April, no one in my family has marrow that matches mine. So I have to find the one matching my marrow in this broad world. Is there anyone? If I can’t get a bone marrow transplant, I’m told that I will die. Mommy promised me I would get one. Cheer up!”

Fortunately, his family found five people whose bone marrow matched his. But all of them declined donations at the final stages.

One of the most painful things was his diet. His diet of pasteurized food was not tasteful for him, especially with his growing appetite due to steroids. A steroid injection was part of an anticancer treatment.

He even wrote to mitigate his growing appetite. Rayeon, jajangmyeon, steamed crabs, hamburgers, steamed eggs: this is a list that he wrote as hunger consumed him. He repeatedly wrote down a long list of food. When he could not suppress his appetite any more, he even drew pictures of foods that he wanted.

egija@donga.com