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| Yoko Kasuda |
For six years, Yoko Kasuda was a regular visitor to the Welfare Center for Persons with Developmental Disabilities here. But those visits stopped last Aug. 12, the day that the 9-year-old girl charged to her care passed away.
Kasuda, a lawyer, was in her mid-thirties when she first met the girl, then 3 years old and already in institutional care.
From the outset, doctors gave the girl short odds at living beyond several years.
She was found abandoned in a cardboard box in a waiting room at a maternity clinic in western Aichi Prefecture in May 2004.
Doctors quickly diagnosed a severe illness, but determined the girl's life was not in immediate danger.
The girl suffered from hydranencephaly, a congenital condition that retards growth, movement and the ability to speak.
When she was discovered wrapped in a towel, the girl was believed to be just an hour old. A letter in the cardboard box read: “Please take care of this child.”
Kasuda, 42, met the girl for the first time in late 2007.
She agreed to talk to The Asahi Shimbun about her guardianship of the girl on grounds that the child was not identified. However, Kasuda did allow the newspaper to refer to the girl as "M."
Kasuda initially visited the facility to meet the girl because her lawyer colleague had asked her to take on the responsibility of guardianship on her behalf.
Guardians of minors serve as legal representatives for children without a person in parental authority. Typically, this is when the parents have died or were separated from their offspring because of child abuse. Guardians are appointed by a family court.
Kasuda acceded to the request. It required her to consult with doctors to decide the best course of treatment for "M" and take responsibility for the girl.
“I had no reason to turn it down, although I realized that she probably would not be able to live for very long,” Kasuda said.
She researched the Internet and discovered that the average life expectancy of a person with the same disease as "M" was just three years. Kasuda had a son a year older than the girl.
Kasuda said "M" did not show any reaction initially when she held and talked to her.
“Her body was cold and stiff,” she recalled.
The girl’s life was beset by a series of injuries and illnesses, including a bone fracture and hernia.
But the child gradually appeared to be getting stronger and displayed signs of some awareness of the outside world.
When Kasuda held her, the girl’s cheeks seemed to relax slightly. When she woke "M" during a nap by rubbing her body, the girl appeared somewhat put out.
“(Those reactions) made me believe that the child could probably hear sounds even though she did not understand the meaning of words,” Kasuda said.
Staff members at the facility agreed.
“The girl blinks when a sound is made,” said one nurse. “It was like she wanted us to know that she can hear.”
Kasuda, encouraged significantly by these signs, gave the girl a gift that plays a song for Girls’ Festival on March 3, the day the festival is celebrated. On her birthday, Kasuda bought her traditional “jinbei” light cotton summer clothing consisting of knee-length shorts and short-sleeved jacket, the same one she bought for her own daughter.
The girl one time astounded the staff because she tried to use her head to press a button on her bed to move forward.
“Go! Go!” cheered several staff members when they noticed what "M" was doing.
When "M" turned 9, Kasuda became hopeful could even make it to 20, the legal age for an adult, or older.
Things changed dramatically for the worse on Aug. 12, 2013, however, when she received a call from the hospital at the center just after 9 p.m.
When Kasuda rushed to the hospital, the girl’s heartbeat was slowing. She was suffering from septicemia after becoming infected with the virus. The child died late that night.
Kasuda held the child's body and apologized to her repeatedly.
“I am sorry that I could not come to see you as often as I had wished,” she told the girl.
The girl's funeral was held three days later. Teachers who took care of her at the school for the disabled sent her coffin off by singing songs they sang during a morning meeting at the school.
Kasuda said the time she spent with the girl was invaluable, even though she was not her biological mother.
“There were difficult times, but we all joined in supporting her,” said Kasuda. “We experienced happiness as well as sadness in the course of looking after her, but I now remember all the encouraging events.”
According to the Supreme Court, guardians of minor were appointed in 2,099 cases in 2013. Guardians were typically children’s relatives and friends of their parents. In some cases, lawyers assume the duty.
Asahi
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