Japanese dad, whose 13-year-old had bone cancer, writes heartwarming letter to US Paralympian
By Ryan General
September 3, 2021
American Paralympic high jumper Sam Grewe took to Twitter on Tuesday to share a touching letter he received from a Japanese man.
Touching message: Grewe, an athlete competing at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, wrote in the tweet’s caption that the local man handed him the note at his event’s venue.
- The letter was signed by Masaki Kando, who introduced himself as an employee for the Olympic Organizing Committee.
- He wrote about his 13-year-old son Haruki, who suffered from osteosarcoma, the same aggressive bone cancer that took Grewe’s right leg.
- “My son had osteosarcoma of his right knee at the age of 10 and had surgery on rotationplasty,” Kando wrote.
- Grewe was 13 years old when he underwent the same procedure that removed his “fist-size tumor,” according to Seattle Times. He decided to have the affected leg amputated so he could pursue being an athlete.
- According to the letter, Kando was anxious about the rotationplasty on his son because there was “no information about its after function in Japan.”
- Kando revealed that his family was inspired after learning about Grewe and his accomplishments on social media platforms.
- “You gave courage to my family,” he wrote. “We are grateful to you.”
- Touched by Kando’s message, Grewe wrote: “Win or lose, this is what it’s all about. This makes it all worth it.”
Twitter reacts: Twitter users were similarly moved by the heartwarming post, which has been retweeted over 10,000 times and has generated over 58,000 likes.
- One user called Kando’s gesture a “Gold Medal in its own right & a reminder that we all have more in common than differences.”
- Another commented that inspiring others illustrates the “often unspoken power of the @Paralympics.”
- Kando himself responded to Grewe’s tweet, thanking him for his kindness.
The 23-year-old athlete, who competes with a prosthetic blade, bagged the gold medal in the men’s T63 high jump event on Tuesday.
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