Boxer’s gift promotes organ donation
Published: 10 Sep. 2009, 01:14
Choi Yo-sam
A boxer who died early last year days after defending his flyweight title has given new hope to six people he never knew.
Choi Yo-sam has donated in death his heart to a woman in her 30s, a long-term sufferer of heart disease, and his liver to another woman suffering from acute hepatitis.
A teenage boy and a man in his 30s have received Choi’s kidneys and an elderly man and a two-year-old boy, Park Yo-han, were given his corneas.
Choi died on Jan. 3, 2008 after he was pronounced brain dead following a World Boxing Organization Intercontinental bout in Seoul. His family was lauded afterwards for deciding to donate Choi’s organs to others.
To Park’s family, Choi is a hero. Yo-han was born with cataracts and a damaged cornea. Lee Ok-jin, 35, Park’s mother, said she was in despair when she discovered the problems with her son’s eyesight.
After doctors said the only way to cure Park’s condition was a cornea transplantation, Lee registered her son on a waiting list at Asan Medical Center in Songpa, eastern Seoul.
“I recently found out that the new cornea was from the boxer,” Lee said. “Choi has given hope to our family.”
Choi won a unanimous decision against Indonesian Heri Amol in his flyweight title matchup on Dec. 25, 2007. A blow to the jaw in the last moments of the 12-round fight knocked Choi down. He later collapsed and underwent emergency treatment but was pronounced brain dead not long afterwards.
The WBO Intercontinental flyweight champion hadn’t signed up for organ donation. His mother, Oh Sun-e, 66, and his younger brother, Choi Gyeong-ho, 33, who was Choi’s manager for over 10 years, made the decision to donate the boxer’s organs.
“My brother wanted to be remembered not just a boxing champion but also a hero who contributes something to society,” Gyeong-ho said. “He used to say that he wanted to help poor people after making a lot of money.”
Gyeong-ho said all his family members had now signed up for organ donation.
Organ Donation Day, designated by the Korean Organ Donor Program, informs the public that nine organs of the body, including the kidney, pancreas, heart and lung, can be used to save lives after a donor is pronounced brain dead.
A total of 16,279 people are currently waiting for organ transplants as of the end of last month, according to the Korean Network for Organ Sharing, but only 2,000 have received donated organs in the first six months of this year.
More about Organ Donation Day can be found at www.donor.or.kr.
By Kim Jeen-kyung, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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