A 40-Year-Old Who Always Smiled and Gave Despite Rare Incurable Disease, Gave New Life to 5 People Before Passing Away

"A Life Not Free from Disease...
Wishing to Live Healthily as a New Life"

A woman in her 40s suffering from Moyamoya disease gave the gift of new life to five people before passing away.

Jeongseon Han, who saved five lives through brain-dead organ donation. [Image source=Korea Organ and Tissue Donation Agency]

On the 28th, the Korea Organ and Tissue Donation Agency announced that on the 4th, Han Jeong-seon (45) donated her heart, liver, both kidneys, and both lungs through brain-dead organ donation at Seoul Boramae Hospital.

Her caregiver, who spoke with Han every morning, went to her home on the 30th of last month when Han did not answer the phone and found her collapsed in the bathroom. She was immediately hospitalized and treated, but ultimately did not regain consciousness and fell into a brain-dead state. Han’s family decided to donate her organs, hoping that someone could live because she had lived a life constrained by Moyamoya disease and that her organs would be healthy inside another person. Moyamoya disease is a rare cerebrovascular disorder characterized by thickening of the inner walls of blood vessels on both sides of the brain, causing blockage in certain areas, and was named by Professor Suzuki of Japan.

Born in Seoul as the eldest daughter among one son and one daughter, Han was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease, a rare and intractable disease causing narrowing of cerebral blood vessels, at age seven and was classified as having level 2 physical disability. People around her unanimously described her as "introverted but warm-hearted, opening up to close friends, always sharing something and expressing affection." Han visited the Seoul Metropolitan Cerebral Palsy Welfare Center every morning, participating in various programs, always smiling brightly and enjoying her time. She especially loved writing poems daily to give as gifts to the welfare center teachers and her caregiver.

Han’s mother, Kim Ui-shin, delivered a final message: "Jeong-seon, rest comfortably in heaven without pain. You did a wonderful deed that no one else could do by saving lives, so live happily in a good place. I love you."