Memories of Jana Wang, 1993-2009

Akari Hatanaka
April 15, 2009
Filed under Features

Jana Wang, an ‘Iolani sophomore known for her bubbly laughter, kindness, and contagious joy, died March 8 at M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas. She was 15.

She had been receiving treatment for osteosarcoma, an aggressive cancer which was diagnosed at the end of her eighth grade year.

Jana entered ‘Iolani in seventh grade. She played cello and was a member of the tennis team. After her diagnosis, members of the tennis team and other friends showed their support for her by selling green-and-white shirts bearing the simple slogan, “Believe.” Green and white were Jana’s favorite colors.

Her impish, lively humor

Jana tried to be nice to everyone. Alyssa Muraoka ’11 said she “truly lit up the room with her laughter and spontaneous shenanigans.”

And what shenanigans she pulled: telling her cello teacher she had tennis games to get out of her lessons, sharing everything and anything in Latin class from her dreams every night to current events, and striking up conversations with random little children were a part of her everyday life.

Bianca Bystrom Pino ’11 remmebers that once, Jana hid her very excellent report card from her mother in fellow sophomore Akari Hatanaka’s lunch box. Akari only realized it three weeks later, when her own mother pulled it from a pocket and asked Akari, “What is this? IS THIS YOURS?”

When Akari tried to give it back, Jana replied, “Aw. You found it.”

A friend in need

“Jana could totally be serious one moment, then silly the next, cracking jokes right and left,” sophomore Jana Dagdagan said. Jana Dagdagan also recalled the two Janas bringing super spicy kimchee ramen for lunch. When Jana Dagdagan had something else, she would beg for some of her friend’s lunch to trade. Jana Wang always said no, but would give her tons anyway.

During freshman year, Jana Dagdagan transferred to a public high school. The same year, Jana Wang was in Houston at M.D. Anderson.

“She was my only friend right at those moments when I’d wander around campus drinking chocolate milk only talking to her on the phone,” Jana Dagdagan said. “And I felt so scared of all the gangs and fights, but I’d just walk past it all and talk to her, and laugh.”

Both Janas returned to ‘Iolani at the beginning of this school year. “I guess we had a connection because we were both away from ‘Iolani. And then the next year, when we were coming back, we both shared the same feelings of anxiety and such. She made me feel like I wasn’t alone,” Jana Dagdagan said.

Friends remember Jana as truly beautiful, on both the outside and inside.  Bubbly laughter and jokes were always spilling out of her everyday. She tried to be kind to everyone, and whenever she saw a sad person, she would try to make them smile, even if she was sick. It would always work.

By mid-October, Jana Wang was back in Houston for additional treatment. Her friends felt her absence.
“I do think it is her infectious, pretty smile that I miss the most,” sophomore Kelia Cowan said. “Whenever I talked to her for the past two years, my goal was to make her smile. Because I knew it made her feel better inside, just as she did me, every single day. You always knew she had hope because she smiled, like a little beam of sunshine inside of her. It’s something you can’t replicate, you can’t explain it. You have to see it.”
Jana made the nurses, doctors, and patients in Houston fall in love with her smile, too. Mrs. Jane Wang was amazed, when one day after Jana’s passing, many doctors and other staff members were wearing Believe shirts. She had only passed out two there, so someone must have had extra copies made and given them out.

It was just another example of how many lives Jana had touched with her vibrant smile.

Loyal sister

Jana’s family includes her parents, Jane and Peter, and two brothers, Perry, 17, a junior at Maryknoll High School, and Princeton, 8.

Jana really loved her family, as those who knew her discovered. She constantly talked about all other four members, who she absolutely adored. She took good care of Princeton and looked up to Perry. Perry looked up to her as well, although he was older.

When Perry talks about his sister, he has much love and respect in his voice. He describes her as smart, funny, kind, selfless, loving, and a fighter. No truer words could be spoken. Family meant everything to Jana.

Cancer fight galvanized campus

More than 1,150 shirts were sold through the “Believe” project, spearheaded by tennis coach Allison Ishii ‘02, current junior Andie Enomoto (who designed the shirt,) and other members of the tennis team. In the spring of 2008, hundreds of ‘Iolani students wore their shirts simultaneously for a group photo given to Jana.
The group organized a walkathon over the summer. Dozens of teachers, students and parents showed up at Eddie Hamada field to raise money to support the Wang family.

She was a person who brought everyone together, even when she wasn’t physically there. It was a sight to see on campus when the majority of students blatantly broke the dress code and wore their shirts to support her.

Memories and promises

Many will remember Jana’s smile, the way she talked, her collection of earrings, and her array of random objects that she managed to make look cool, like Princeton’s cartoon character backpacks that she wore to school.  During class, she and Alyssa drew on a friend’s Converse sneakers, shoes that her friend will never give up. She had dreams of going to college in New York and becoming a fashion designer.

Even when Jana was sick, she remained selfless, still caring about others. Her dream was to go to Africa and somehow help the children who were suffering there. She then asked Akari to go with her one day, to help those who were in need there. Akari vows some day to travel to Africa and fulfill the promise she made to Jana, no matter what.

Four of Jana’s friends — Akari, Kelia, Jana D., and Bianca — traveled to Houston at the end of February, along with coach Allison. With them, they brought letters and gifts from Jana’s friends, such as Jamie Tamayose ’11, also a close friend. They visited with Jana, who was weak and had trouble speaking because it led to coughing.

The miracle of friendship

Somehow, when her friends visited Jana, she was able to talk and laugh again. The strangeness of the hospital setting didn’t dampen their friendship, either. After a few tentative minutes, the group was, just like old times, cracking jokes, drawing on inflated latex gloves, and being silly. They challenged Perry to guess who drew what on the blown up latex gloves, and he gamely complied, guessing almost all of them.

Jana’s ability to bring joy to others is her legacy, Chaplain Diane Martinson-Koyama said in chapel last week.
“Life’s sorrows need to be balanced with laughter.  Laughter is not the denial of sorrow, but the recognition that there is a joy that is more than ‘happy,’ that can indeed co-mingle with tears, and that grounds us in hope,” Chaplain Martinson-Koyama wrote.

And indeed, though our tears fall fast, we can remember Jana’s antics and laugh through them. Jana’s goal was to make everyone smile, and even now, she is able to do just that.

“If anyone I’ve ever met was an angel, it was Jana,” freshman Bryson Emmons recalled. “If you close your eyes and listen, you can still hear her laughing and see her smile. Just like A Walk To Remember, Jana’s love will always be like the wind. I won’t be able to see it, but I’ll always feel it.”