"Bonds" ◆ Blood Is Thicker Than Water

The Chunichi Shimbun Morning Edition – June 30, 2006

Leukemia, a type of blood cancer, is known as a difficult and serious illness. The most effective treatment is a bone marrow transplant from a donor who provides hematopoietic (blood-forming) cells. The film Marvin’s Room (1996, USA), which we’ll introduce today, tells the story of a strained relationship between parent and child, and between sisters, who begin to open their hearts to each other through the experience of leukemia.

Lee (Meryl Streep), divorced and struggling to raise her two children, is overwhelmed by daily life. Her eldest son, Hank (Leonardo DiCaprio), unable to connect emotionally with his mother, sets the house on fire. Just as Lee’s family is on the brink of collapse, she receives a phone call for the first time in 20 years from her estranged sister Bessie (Diane Keaton). Bessie has leukemia, and her only hope is a bone marrow transplant from a relative.

Lee takes her family to visit Bessie in Florida—a place she once abandoned, her hometown. Seeing Bessie selflessly caring for their elderly father despite her own illness, Hank slowly opens his heart and agrees to be tested as a potential bone marrow donor.

However, family reconciliation does not come easily. Lee and Bessie have fierce emotional confrontations, and Hank is devastated when he learns the truth about his parents’ divorce. Despite these dramatic twists and turns, the family eventually comes together in a tight bond, surrounding Bessie as she comes to accept her own death.

For leukemia patients to receive a bone marrow transplant, it is necessary to find a donor with matching HLA (human leukocyte antigen) types. Even among siblings, the match rate is only about 25%, and among unrelated individuals, it’s said to be one in several hundred to tens of thousands. Behind every life-saving transplant lie a multitude of emotions—joy, inner conflict, disappointment—on the part of the patients and their families.

Today, bone marrow banks have been established around the world, enabling transplants between unrelated individuals and offering great hope to many patients. Along with medical advances, there is no doubt that improving harmful environmental factors, such as radiation exposure, remains essential.