Photo courtesy of the Dung family
Alana Dung
"Without the support of so many people, Alana wouldn't be here today," Stephen Dung said of his 2-year-old daughter, who received a bone-marrow transplant 103 days ago in Seattle and is recovering at home.
"We have a lot to be thankful for," he added. "All the support we received brightened our spirits and gave us strength."
The family is especially grateful to the 30,000-plus Hawaii residents who answered their plea for help in locating a donor and to the Tzu-Chi Foundation, who found an unrelated donor in Taiwan.
"We don't know who she is but we always say a special prayer for her," said Tai Yau Chung, Alana's grandfather.
Her parents are closely monitoring Alana's blood-cell counts.
"She's disease-free and doing well," said Dung, a police detective who plans to return to work next month if his daughter continues to progress.
"We've cleared a major hurdle," he added, "but there's still the home stretch to go."
The first stop on the home stretch will be Alana's one-year checkup in July 1997. She'll be considered cured if all is well after five years.
Alana was to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with her family tonight and can have turkey if she wants it.
When the Dungs learned that Alana needed a bone-marrow transplant to save her life in mid-April, they realized the odds of finding a compatible donor was greater than a million to one.
Dr. Alvin Chung, Alana's uncle, is also grateful for the response to the donor drive because it also made a difference for others.
"They were averaging 2,000 donors a year and in one month, it skyrocketed to 30,000," Chung said. "They went from five preliminary matches to 250 preliminary matches.
"We're very grateful for all the volunteers who made the effort because there's no way we would have done this alone," he added.
"People made a difference, not only for Alana but for others. For that, we're very thankful."
Spencer Dung, 7-year-old brother of Alana Dung, will pull the switch to light up a Christmas display Sunday at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki's Great Hall Atrium. Brother to turn on the lights
"The Magic of Christmas," will be on display through the holiday season. The lighting ceremony begins at 6 p.m.
Entertainment Sunday will be provided by Honolulu Boy Choir, Iona Pear Dance Theatre and Hawaii Youth Symphony.