The Chou Ta-kuan Cultural and Educational Foundation (CTKF, 周大觀文教基金會), a charity dedicated to providing care for children with cancer and other serious diseases, said yesterday that it would donate the proceeds from sales of a collection of poems in the US to an American cancer society to help child cancer patients from poor backgrounds.
Titled I Still Have a Leg, the poems featured in the book were selected by Chou Ta-kuan (周大觀), a 10-year-old boy who died of cancer in 1997, but retained a passion for life until his final days.
After Chou’s death, his parents established the foundation to provide medical services and financial assistance to children suffering from serious diseases.
Through the foundation’s “Send Love to America” activity, I Still Have a Leg will be released in the US early next month, which will become the 12th country to publish the book.
To date, 4 million copies have been sold in different languages around the world, with more than NT$16 million (US$500,000) in royalties used to help the poorest among ailing children in those countries.
Aside from making a donation to the cancer society, the foundation will also present “Love for Life Awards” to three recipients living in the US.
“This is a most beautiful and touching diplomatic mission” said Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳), who was invited to the event by the foundation.
At yesterday’s news conference, Huang and Chou Chin-huar (周進華), the founder of the foundation, and Chou Ta-kuan’s father awarded two young girls with a “Love For Life” award, affirming their passion and perseverance in striving for life.
One of the recipients, Lin Mu-ching (林睦卿), had her left leg amputated at the age of 16 because of cancer.
Encouraged by Chou’s selection of poems, she decided she would not let her physical disability limit her life.
Lin has subsequently traveled to 15 countries, taken up rock-climbing and is now the host of a TV show.
“The imperfection of one’s body cannot hinder life from reaching perfection,” said Wang Shu-chiao (王蜀蕎), the other prize recipient.
Wang lost her left arm as a child after getting it caught in a meat mincer at a restaurant owned by the family’s neighbors.
The two girls formed a “three-arm, three-legged dance pairing” to prove that “without arms and legs, we can still dance.”
The “Love For Life” award is given by the foundation every year to about 20 people worldwide who fight for life with courage, compassion and perseverance, the foundation said.
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