Kathleen Burkinshaw - 2nd Generation Hibakusha

I am a second generation Hibakusha. Yet, I didn’t know that my mother was born in Hiroshima until I was 11 years old. She told everyone she was from Tokyo - me included. That particular August when she had horrible nightmares and woke up screaming, I remembered that she had them around the same time the year before. So, I kept asking her about it. I wore her down and she finally told me that she was actually born in Hiroshima but lost her home and family to the atomic bomb on August 6th.  That’s all she would say because the memories were still too painful to discuss. She also told me never to mention this to anyone. 

When I was 30, I had been extremely ill and hospitalized for over a month. I needed help taking care of myself and my daughter (who was 4 at the time) while my husband worked during the day. My parents would come to the house during the week. My mom told me some happy, fun stories of her childhood. But, during that time, I had also been diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy(RSD),a neurological chronic, progressive pain disease that affects the immune and sympathetic nervous system-which my physician attributed my compromised immune system to the radiation my mother had been exposed to from the atomic bomb. 

Because of the unrelenting pain, I could not walk unaided, I could no longer keep my career and I worried if I could even take care of my daughter. My life changed in an instant. Depression and hopelessness crept in. That is when my mom began to share her horrific memories of August 6th when her life literally changed in an instant-and she was only 12 years old. My mom wanted to inspire me by showing that no matter how devastating or hopeless life may seem, I would have the strength to make it through. She nearly committed suicide a year after the bombing, since she lost everyone that mattered to her. She decided against it because she remembered the stories her Papa told her of the strength and pride of her samurai ancestors. She refused to disappoint her Papa. And now she had me and my daughter to love. She wanted me to know that the same blood flowed through my veins as well and she knew I would also find a way. My mom lost so much that August day, yet somehow, she never lost her ability to love. My mother was the bravest person I will ever know, and I am honored that she entrusted me with her story. I will continue to talk about her so that there will be NO more Hiroshimas and NO more Nagasakis. My mother’s voice and the voices of all atomic bomb victims from Hiroshima, Nagasaki, as well as the victims of nuclear weapons testing, and nuclear plant disasters deserve to and MUST be heard.