Cardinal Mahony Visits With Cancer-Stricken Korean Boy

A Times story about Dong-Uk Kim, a 10-year-old South Korean boy who came to Los Angeles two weeks ago seeking treatment for a rare childhood cancer, has elicited an outpouring of love and concern.

On Wednesday, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony made a quiet visit to the family’s quarters near Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and prayed for them.

“The cardinal put his hands on my brother’s and my head and blessed us,” said Dong-Uk’s older brother, Gue-Dong, 12.

Dong-Uk flashed a big smile and nodded when asked if the prelate’s visit made him happy.

“It was the greatest blessing of our lives,” said the boy’s father, Su-Tea Kim, a Roman Catholic. “We are overcome with gratitude that such a busy man would do this.”

After five futile months of chemotherapy in Seoul, doctors said they could do no more for Dong-Uk. His parents took him to New York and then to Childrens Hospital, which has an experimental program for youngsters with his disease, neuroblastoma. The disease strikes about 100 children a year in South Korea and between 500 and 600 youngsters a year in the United States.

In the wake of the Times story, published Sunday, Kim said he received a phone call Wednesday morning from Korean American dentist James Lim, who said the cardinal wanted to see them. “He asked that we not tell anyone--not even the children,” Kim said.

Shortly after noon, “the cardinal arrived in a small car, which he drove himself--with the Korean dentist in the passenger’s seat,” said Hyon-Ja Kim, the boy’s mother.

During their time together, Mahony told the Kims that he began praying for Dong-Uk and the family even as he was reading the article about them, Hyon-Ja Kim said. “He told us he was sorry that we were spending Christmas away from home, but that he was glad to have us in Los Angeles.”

For a long time after Mahony left, she said she cried for joy.

Some readers of The Times’ story have sent cards, letters and donations.

On Thursday, two checks arrived from Mercedes Foster of Hermosa Beach and her adopted Korean daughter, Mirang.

Mirang, who was adopted as a child in 1965, wrote a heartwarming note to the Kims in Korean.

The Korean congregation of the St. Gregory’s Nazianzen Church in Koreatown turned over its Christmas offering of $2,000 to the Kims.

In hopes of saving the boy’s life, his parents sold their Seoul home in 1997 and traveled to New York that October with more than $110,000.

In the last 14 months, the family has been shuttling between Seoul and New York, and its financial resources are depleted.

After five operations at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Kims were told the boy could expect to live just a few more months. As their last hope, they came to Childrens Hospital.

Odds are against him, but the family remains hopeful.

“We believe in the power of prayers,” Kim said.

On Christmas Eve, five members of the Korean Church of Jesus Christ came with their pastor, Chang-Hwan Park, to pray with the family.

“When I read the article, I was reminded of Matthew 25,” Park said. The verses read: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t think about these words much except around Christmastime,” Park said.

Park’s congregation gave the Kims $200 as they wished them a blessed Christmas.

“How can we thank you enough for the warmth and love so many people in Los Angeles have shown us or ever repay them?” asked Hyon-Ja Kim.