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A healthy Nishimura
about to leave hospital

Tests show that his bone
marrow is normal following
a successful transplant

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By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

For Alvin Nishimura, wishes do come true.

Nishimura, a Honolulu police captain who underwent a bone-marrow transplant May 30, is healthy again and will be discharged Sunday from City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif., before flying home.

"In a way, I'm glad it happened because life would have just walked by me," Nishimura said of the acute lymphoblastic leukemia that rendered his immune system defenseless before the transplant.

"I wasn't religious before this happened to me, but I know now the Lord wanted to show me something."

Nishimura is scheduled to arrive home Sunday on Continental Airlines Flight 75 from Los Angeles at 12:20 p.m.

On Monday, he'll celebrate his 51st birthday.

"I'm very thankful and happy," said Nishimura, who was watching a videotape of the University of Hawaii's football season opener against Portland State yesterday afternoon.

"Right now, we're ahead," he said after taking the telephone from his wife, Cynthia. "Yeah, I know the score already. But I still think we'll have a good season."

The tape was given to Nishimura by Tom Kawakami, a former Hawaii resident living in Los Angeles who befriended the policeman after learning about his transplant from Internet stories.

"I've met some real nice people through all of this and it's really been uplifting," Nishimura said. "It's really something special, this relationship we have.

"Only Hawaii people would do what Tom did."

Kawakami hosted Nishimura and his wife at a Gardena, Calif., get-together Monday.

On Tuesday, the Nishimuras learned the results of a biopsy taken last Thursday, 100 days following the transplant.

"We were so elated when the doctor said the bone marrow is normal," Cynthia Yip Nishimura said. "Alvin is still at risk (from infections), but can be around people who are healthy.

"It was a nice early birthday gift."

A family friend planned to drive the Nishimuras to Sea World today, an outing they were looking forward to yesterday.

"At the beginning, I'd always think about what these (last few) days would be like, but now it's here and I'm just enjoying it," Alvin Nishimura said.

"I can see some good in everyone. As a policeman, I tended to see more negative things. But going through something like this makes you appreciate everything more, especially family and friends."