A breadwinner who worked diligently for nearly 30 years is said to have given new life to three people at the end of life.
On the 21st, the Korea Organ Donation Agency (KODA) said that on Jan. 10 this year at Korea University Guro Hospital, Kim Gi-ung, 67, donated his liver and both kidneys to three people through brain-dead organ donation before passing away.
Kim collapsed and lost consciousness at work on Jan. 8 and was taken to a hospital, but the condition gradually worsened and brain death was declared. On the day Kim collapsed, Kim's only daughter gave birth to her second child and was staying at a postnatal care center; she went to the hospital after a call from her mother but did not see her father wake up.
Kim even got vaccinated in advance to see the second grandchild and waited only for the end of the daughter's postpartum recovery, but in the end departed without meeting the grandchild, adding to the family's sorrow.
According to the bereaved family, Kim had applied with the spouse to refuse life-sustaining treatment because Kim did not want to burden the only daughter. The family decided to donate organs, judging that Kim, who liked to be generous to others in life, would have chosen to help others even at the last moment.
Kim fulfilled the role of breadwinner by working faithfully throughout life and was especially affectionate toward the only daughter, Yun-ji, the family said. On the way home from work, Kim would sometimes stop by with bread and fruit that the daughter and first grandchild liked. Yun-ji said to the father, "Feeling your absence makes me want to live kindly like you did," and added, "On the day we meet again in the very distant future, let's greet each other with smiles, saying we were truly happy in our own places. Thank you, and I love you."