The Crane Campaign

The Crane Campaign is a non-profit effort based in the Bay Area founded and run by high school student Sydney Hessel. The purpose of the Crane Campaign is to help local hospitals and clinics in a variety of ways: first and foremost, the 1000 cranes donated promote strength, peace, and inspire hope in patients. Aside from this, they also embellish the sometimes dreary hospital environment with color and vibrancy. Finally, the cranes, in the future, will possibly serve as an incentive for donations to the hospitals, increasing the substancial value of the effort to provide actual medical assistance. These goals are and will be achieved through a series of actions. First, 1000 cranes are folded, whether by a single person or within communities as a group effort. Then, a local hospital is contacted, and hospital staff begin to dicuss the possibility of receiving the donation. Finally, if accepted, the cranes are brought to the hospital and arranged, framed, or otherwise utilized. The presentation of the cranes can be made as ornate or as plain as the hospital chooses or can afford, framed or hanging; the end result, however, is always a thrilling addition to any working environment. So far, 1000 cranes have been donated to Stanford's Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, Sequoia Hospital, and the Children's Peace Statue in Hiroshima. El Camino Hospital and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation are also currently accepting donations, to be installed over the coming year. [1303]
The idea of the 1000 paper cranes stems from post-WWII history. On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a U.S. B-29 bomber, released a bomb approximately 28,000 feet above the city of Hiroshima like none that was previously known to mankind. Only seconds after this decisive moment, every structure within a radius of two miles was destroyed, along with men, women, and children, dying from the intensity of the heat produced by the bomb, or exposed to smoke and radiation that would cause them horrible suffering throughout the rest of their lives. A year later, the death count climbed to a terrifying approximate of 150,000 lives, including soldiers, the bomb continuing to take effect year after year through cancers and other fatal diseases. A mile north from the hyper center when the bomb was released, Sadako Sasaki, only two at the time, had apparently escaped the effects of the disaster. A vibrant, popular, and athletic 11 year-old, Sadako was the star runner of her class. Soon after helping her school to a win an important race on the Grand Field Day, however, Sadako began to complain about a swelling under her ears. A visit to the family pediatrician, Dr. Hatagawa, revealed that her white blood count was four times average, and her red blood count was notably low, despite the fact that Sadako had tested negative for atomic bomb disease only a few months earlier by the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, a research center created by the U.S. government to monitor the effects of the bomb. It was not long before Sadako was taken out of school, and her parents were told that she had an incurable disease caused by radiation; the once healthy young girl was suffering from the initial stages of malignant acute marrow leukemia. Sadako’s family and friends were in a state of shock when they learned this information. Most could not believe or accept it. Her sorrowful mother, in a state of rueful desperation, even asked her husband, Sadako’s father, to buy her a beautiful kimono in spite of the expense. Mr. Sasaki, her father, and Sadako herself selected a cherry blossom pattern for the garment, and her mother and aunt worked late to finish sewing and piecing it together. When Sadako donned the kimono the next day, she felt extremely proud and joyful of her new, mature image. Many girls in Japan dream of owning their own kimonos, and for now, Sadako’s wish had come true.
On February 21, 1955, Sadako was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital in her community, and her intense treatment began. Undergoing expensive blood transfusions and cortisone injections that her family struggled to afford, Sadako’s body fought against the incurable disease, Sadako unwilling to lose her fighting and courageous spirit to the sickness. She even attended her sixth grade class’s graduation party for a brief moment of happiness, and her loving classmates sympathized with her situation and wished her well. It was the last time Sadako saw her beloved school. Sadako continued to search for ways to reenter the world beyond the hospital. On August 6th, she attended the Peace Ceremony that her family participated in annually, during which 1000 floating lanterns holding candles were released to remember the victims of the atomic bomb. A couple of days after the ceremony, a nurse entered Sadako room and presented her with a chain of cranes donated to the hospital by a high school girl in Nagoya. Recalling a story her mother once told her about the ability of a set of 1000 cranes to grant a wish, Sadako, along with her roommate Kiyo Ohkura, began to fold the birds out of anything they could find—sheets used to wrap medicine, candy wrappers, and gift wrap. When Kiyo commented about Sadako’s fervent folding, she replied that she planned to finish 1000 cranes and wish to be healthy again. Soon it became an obsession, and her parents even worried that the folding was consuming her energy to an unhealthy extent, but Sadako felt a great need and stirring determination to finish her work, and get better. However, her condition only declined, and soon she was unable to continue folding. Surrounded by friends and family at age 12 on October 25, 1955, after a courageous 1,500 cranes and months of fighting leukemia, Sadako Sasaki passed away, her dying words a response to a dish of Ochazuke and representative of her hope and resilience, an unforgettable whispering of “Oishii” (delicious).
Attending her funeral were not only her family, but also the guilty and saddened members of her class. Wishing that they had visited her more often and that she had gotten well, the young children dreamed of a way to honor Sadako’s spirit and the thirteen other children that year in their class who had passed away as a result of the atomic bomb disease. Initiated by the students and a few devoted teachers, the effort to build a monument for the children who had died of Pika swept the nation, inspiring thousands of schools and individuals to make donations that eventually amounted to an unanticipated and inspiring 450,000 dollars. The memorial statue created using these funds and called genbaku-no-ko-no-zoh, or the Statue for the Children of the Atomic Bomb, was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 5, 1958, surrounded by Sadako’s former classmates and 10,000 students from forty-seven different schools. On top of the large statue, Sadako Sasaki is depicted holding up a giant crane, symbolizing peace, strength, and hope simultaneously. Engraved at the statue’s base are the words “This is our cry, this is our prayer: to create peace in the world.” After a great effort, Sadako did not die in vain as her classmates once feared; today she is an international inspiration, and her story continues to influence all those who hear it and visit the memorial. Sadako teaches the world that the fight for happiness and health is never pointless; moreover, she communicates to us the importance of peace, also connecting the idea of 1000 paper cranes to hope in the face of adversity, and the ability to heal and grow. [Ishii, Takayuki. One Thousand Paper Cranes. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1997.]
The Crane Campaign hopes to spread the message of Sadako’s classmates and her spirit, and also, more specifically, inspire those suffering or recovering in Bay Area hospitals with a gift that brightens rooms, radiates love, and carries an important message about being hopeful and courageous even when death is inevitable. And although most people will question the fact that Sadako died and view that as being a terribly sad and depressing tale, the efforts of countless people in Japan, along with the relentless character of Sadako, prove that there is a greater picture and meaning to her life. She is not only a girl who died of leukemia after struggling to survive; in contrast, she changed the way the world views weapons of mass destruction and gives hope to people suffering that they will be honored and remembered. [1304]