Advocate: Dialysis service was ‘gift’

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Advocate: Dialysis service was ‘gift’
Hana’s Cecelia Park pushed for years, and effort paid off

By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer
POSTED: January 3, 2010

Cecelia Park, whose long drives for treatment turned her into an advocate who helped bring dialysis to Hana, died Dec. 21, 2009, at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Park, 67, made the round trip from Hana to Wailuku three times a week for five years to receive dialysis because the service was not available in her hometown. Daughter Lehua Cosma formed Hui Laulima O Hana to join with others already advocating for dialysis. Their efforts paid off when a dialysis facility was opened in Hana in April.

"She didn't want others to go through what she went through," Cosma said. "People belong together, families."

Park was born March 14, 1942, in Hana. She died of complications from a fall.

Cosma said her mother was known for her caring heart and positive outlook.

"No matter how sickly throughout her life she was, she still had room in her heart to always think about others," she said. "It just amazes us that she looked at life so positive. We could hardly tell if she was in pain or suffering, because she always held a smile."

She made many friends during the hours she spent in dialysis, and when some of the other patients became discouraged and wanted to quit, she convinced them to stay in treatment.

"She made them see it was like a gift from God," Cosma said. "Not many people get that second chance."

Park worked as a waitress and manager in the coffee shop at the Hotel Hana-Maui in the 1960s and '70s, before leaving to stay home to take care of her family. She took in a hanai son and also took many nieces and nephews under her wing.

"No matter how full her house and her heart was, there was always room," Cosma said.

She was known for a sweet-and-sour dish the family called "dry cook," made from wild boar.

"She would use the ribs and do it with a special recipe - none of us can get it to taste like hers," Cosma said.

In the early 1990s, Park was diagnosed with diabetes, and she started dialysis in 2003, after a minor heart attack damaged her failing kidneys. She and her husband, Andrew, initially moved to Kahului so she could get treatment, but they missed Hana so much that they moved back, committing to making the long drive. Park and her husband had to wake at 2 a.m. for the drive.

Cosma was grateful her mother was able to get the treatment in Hana for the last months of her life.

"So much things they missed out on in life, because their time was spent on the road," she said. "All of that ended when her efforts brought dialysis to Hana."

* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.

http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/527305.html