A Japanese sufferer of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) expressed her gratitude to Taiwan yesterday for the country’s support and donations to sufferers of the disease in the wake of the March 11 earthquake that struck northeastern Japan.
Misao Hashimoto, 58, who arrived in Taiwan on Friday, said she wanted to pay a personal visit to Taiwan to show her appreciation. She is a former chairwoman and current supervisor of the Japan Amyotrophic Lateral -Sclerosis Association (JALSA).
“I am very sorry to give my thanks so late,” Hashimoto said in Taipei through her daughter.
“It was eight months yesterday since the earthquake and I’m really grateful for what you have done,” she added.
The March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated cities and homes also put 25 ALS patients in the area at risk of running out of isocal, a liquid food for people who have difficulty swallowing. The Taiwan Motor Neuron Disease Association (TMNDA) immediately sent 4,800 cans of the product and donated NT$200,000 as soon as it heard of the predicament.
Taiwan Motor Neuron Disease Association chairman Liu Hsueh-hui (劉學慧) said her association was “just returning a favor,” saying that in 2001, when Typhoon Nari hit Taiwan, Hashimoto initiated a fundraiser in Tokyo.
“We’ve had a very close relationship, helping each other and encouraging each other,” Liu said.
In addition to expressing gratitude, Hashimoto, accompanied by her daughter and two other caregivers, also paid a visit to Asia’s first medical center exclusively for ALS patients in Taipei, which can accommodate and provide care for up to 36 patients.
To help patients who do not live in northern Taiwan, the government is planning to establish a smaller center in Greater Taichung, followed by another in Greater Tainan, TMNDA said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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