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(Yonhap Feature) Amateur Internet video helps save girl's life
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- User-generated Internet videos have fundamentally reshaped how politicians campaign for votes and businesses promote their products in South Korea and worldwide. Now they may just start to save lives.
Lee Ayun, 4, draws a heart with her arms after surgery. A medical device is fixed over her face to help her fight post-surgery pain |
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Four-year-old Lee Ayun came close to death last year when her family could not afford surgery to remove huge tumors from her face despite occasional financial support from the hospital and a couple of children's foundations.
The child has been suffering from an extremely rare condition known as gigantiform cementoma -- less than 20 documented cases around the world -- since age two, when bone tissue underneath her teeth started growing uncontrollably, covering her face and blocking her windpipes.
"We could not give up on our daughter, and that's when I turned to the Internet," said Lee Young-hak, the 24-year-old father who works as a part-time deliveryman and lives on the outskirts of Seoul. "I videotaped myself calling for help, and help came."
Ayun with tumor inside mouth |
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Lee posted two amateur clips last summer showing him in tears pleading for help and handing strangers leaflets in a colorful costume on a busy Seoul street.
His videos drew an immediate response from Internet users, helping to raise the 12 million won (US$12,500) desperately needed for last month's surgery that had been postponed since March.
"It really made a difference," Lee said.
Lee Jong-ho, a surgeon at Seoul National University Dental Hospital, said the Internet rally could not have been more timely.
"Both Ayun's medical condition and the financial difficulties led to the delay in the surgery," he said. "These recurring tumors could have reached Ayun's brain and killed her."
In South Korea, where over two thirds of its people enjoy high-speed Internet access and adolescent addiction to the Web is growing as a social problem, online videos have increasingly gained ground.
Ayun following the successful Dec. surgery |
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In last month's presidential election in which a conservative coasted to victory, political workers sought support by producing and placing on the Web scores of video clips touting their candidates.
Businesses have also begun paying attention to Internet videos, using them as well as television commercials when they launch their products. Entertainers also commonly use the Web to show off their artistic talent live.
"The clips about Ayun received a huge response on our Web site," said Shin Hui-jeong of www.cyworld.com, one of the country's largest Web sites featuring self-made videos and personal homepages.
"We are extremely happy Ayun got the help she needed through us," she said, adding the related clips notched a combined total of 380,000 page views on her site alone.
Lee Seung-jin, an official at Daum, South Korea's second largest portal site, said nearly a thousand people spontaneously came together to form an Internet forum solely dedicated to raising money for the girl's surgeries.
Lee Young-hak, Ayun's father, hopes that the support will continue. "It's true the Internet has helped us reach where we are," he said. "But I'm afraid the sympathy may quickly subside while my daughter needs continuing support to combat the tumors that may keep coming back for the next 20 years."
"That's why I will continue to look at other places, too, to seek support," he said.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
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