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Sadako’s
Story
from
Sadako.org
The
paper crane has become an international symbol of peace in recent years as a
result of it's connection to the story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako
Sasaki born in 1943. Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped
on
Hiroshima
,
Japan
on
August 6, 1945
. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In
1955, at age 11, while practicing for a big race, she became dizzy and fell
to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, "the atom bomb"
disease.
Sadako's
best friend told her of an old Japanese legend which said that anyone who
folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish. Sadako hoped that the
gods would grant her a wish to get well so that she could run again. She
started to work on the paper cranes and completed 644 before she passed
away. Her friends and classmates
folded the remaining 356 cranes. All
1000 cranes were buried with Sadako.
The
story of Sadako’s courage and strength inspired children and young people
all over Japan, and with their help a statue of Sadako holding a golden
crane was installed at the Hiroshima Peace Park in 1958.
Even today, 50 years later, children and adults from all over the
world send folded paper cranes to Sadako’s monument.
More info:
Did you know that we
have a statue of Sadako here in
Seattle
? It is located at the Peace
Park, NE Pacific
St.
and
40th St.
in the U-District.
Did you know that 1000
paper cranes grace the halls of West Woodland Elementary?
The cranes were folded by
West Woodland
students in 2005. Two beautiful
mobiles were created. One was to
sold at the school’s auction. The
other hangs above the southeast stairwell entrance.
Other things:
Leukemia, became known
as the “Atom-bomb disease” because of the unusually high incidence of
the disease in both
Hiroshima
and
Nagasaki
after the bomb was dropped. Radiation
exposure was believed to be the cause.
Today, treatment of leukemia in children has a very
high success rate. 90% of most
childhood cases can be moved into permanent remission.
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