Hwang Inwon: "Sharing life and gifting a new beginning brings fulfillment"
"It is rewarding and heartwarming to be able to share life and give the gift of a new life."
Hwang In-won (75) donated a kidney while alive (one of the two kidneys from a living donor). Yonhap News reported Hwang In-won's story on the 15th.
On the 9th, Hwang received a "30th Anniversary Kidney Donation Plaque" from the Love Organ Donation Movement Headquarters in celebration of "Organ Donation Day." He said, "I wanted to choose a way to help others, even a little, rather than just disappearing from the world after death," and added that he had been interested in body donation and organ donation for quite some time.
Hwang married the late Ahn Hee-jun, whom he met as a classmate at Gyeongin National University of Education. His husband suffered from pyelonephritis, which led Hwang to think about organ donation. Later, in 1991, he read an article in a newspaper about the first-ever living kidney donation in Korea through the Love Organ Donation Movement Headquarters. He immediately visited the headquarters office and registered for organ donation. At that time, fewer than 10 people were registered with the headquarters.
Hwang's husband, who had kidney disease, suddenly collapsed while attending a teacher training course. Hwang recalled, "That was the most heartbreaking and saddest time." Hwang, who has blood type AB, could not donate a kidney to her husband, who was blood type O. Hwang's younger sister, who had the same blood type as her husband, stepped forward, but the tissue test results did not match.
Hwang's husband, who was on the kidney transplant waiting list, miraculously found a donor in September 1993. Hwang said, "I even remember the recipient's name. It was Lee Yoon-ja, a housewife in her early 40s," adding, "I saw her once at the hospital but never saw her face clearly. She was a truly wonderful person."
Lee was also a pure donor who donated for a complete stranger. After her husband, who only had kidney transplantation as the answer, was given a new life, Hwang actively sought a recipient to share life with. In 1994, Hwang donated a kidney to a male middle school student in the second grade who had been on hemodialysis for over four years.
Hwang explained, "I never felt worried or afraid even during the surgery," and added, "My children did not discourage me because their father had received a kidney donation." She also said, "One day, when the student became a college student, he came to greet me at the elementary school where I worked, along with his mother. His mother said, 'Thanks to you, our son has grown like this,' and I really felt glad that I donated."
Later, Hwang's husband passed away in August 2010 at the age of 63 after battling kidney cancer, lymphoma, and blood cancer for two years. Following her husband's wishes, Hwang donated his body to Sangji University.
Recalling her husband, Hwang said, "(He) led donations and sponsorships and spent his time teaching children as a teacher without taking vacations," and described him as "a respectable person."
Hwang In-won (left) receiving the '30th Anniversary of Kidney Donation Life Sharing Plaque' [Photo by Hwang In-won/ Yonhap News]
Hwang, who shared her kidney, continues to engage in other forms of sharing. Having worked as an elementary school teacher, she has been teaching Korean, math, and other subjects to children from multicultural families, including those from Pakistan, as a "multicultural family children’s learning assistant" in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, for the past three years.
Her family also plans to continue the tradition of donation. Following her mother-in-law, who donated her body after passing away in 2004, her children and middle school grandson have also registered for organ donation.
Hwang said, "I exercise every day to keep my organs healthy for donation later," and added, "People undergoing dialysis because of poor kidney function have a very hard time. I hope many people donate so that they can live ordinary lives."
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