Five men and women who received organs donated by their spouses yesterday celebrated Lover's Day yesterday with their partners by telling of their experiences.
"To love her is to give to her," said a man surnamed Hsiao, who donated a kidney to his wife four months ago, ending 10 years of uncomfortable dialysis. "When she's happy, I'm also happy."
Another man, surnamed Wu, was saved by a liver donation from his wife in February after he fell into a coma from fulminant hepatitis. Wu said he wasn't aware of his wife's donation until after the operation. Wu said he would never have let his wife undergo the risky operation, even though he was moved to tears to learn of his wife's kindness afterwards.
Doctors at National Taiwan University Hospital, where the five transplants took place, said the number of organ transplants between couples had increased in recent years.
The hospital has performed 177 live organ transplants since 1988. Twenty of them, or 11 percent, involved transplants between spouses.
Tsai Meng-kun (
Also yesterday, two homosexual couples celebrated Lover's Day yesterday by "getting married." The Chinese-language media identified them only by their nicknames, even though a photo of them was also published.
The Cabinet has completed a draft of the "basic human rights law" (
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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