This Hawaii nurse helped a family get through one of the toughest goodbyes

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Joanne Short’s son Ashton Hirai was born with a heart condition. He needed surgery at just a couple weeks old.
That’s also when they found out about his brain malformation.
“When Ashton was born, doctors didn’t give him too much hope. At first, they said he wouldn’t live one year. They said he wouldn’t live five years. He ended up being with us for 26 years,” said Short.
In March, Short’s husband was on the mainland for work. Her eldest son Morgan was home alone with Ashton.
She had just landed in Oklahoma for a business trip when Ashton had a cardiac event.
“I got the call at like, 3 a.m. Oklahoma time, so I was frantic. I was trying to get back,” she recalled. “When I got the call from my son and from the paramedics, it first seemed like that they could not revive him. After an hour of working on him, they were able to revive him. They were able to transfer him to the ICU.”
Joanne immediately called his nurse Sarah Kuma asking her to be with Ashton at Queen’s West Oahu.
“I got a call later on from Ashton’s dad saying that, wait, Ashton’s still alive. And Joanne sent me a text. It was like, wait, Ashton’s alive. And they asked if I could go, come over here. And I knew Morgan was by himself. Me and my wife were both nurses, and we both worked for Ashton. We would do anything for them,” Kuma said.
Kuma stayed at Ashton’s bedside the whole night, updating Short on everything that was happening in the hospital.
“She kept me up to date on all of that,” Short said. “Shewas sneaking pictures of him snd she was putting the phone up to his ear so he could hear my voice so I could talk to him, so he could hear me.”
Short and her husband flew into Oahu the following day. They prayed together and turned off Ashton’s life support as a family.
“If it were not for Sarah, we wouldn’t have the chance to say goodbye as a family, and we’ll never get that chance again. So, what she did for us can never, can never be matched,” Short said. “Having Sarah there was that reassurance, and that’s why I felt like she’s a hero. She’s such a hero in our life.”
“It’s a privilege, it’s an honor,” Kuma said. “I have so much love and respect and care for Joanna … it’s just being a good human one, and I know that anybody would have done that too. I was happy to do that for them and to be able to help them, help guide Morgan through this time. And it’s a privilege to that they trusted me, that they could trust him to do that for them.”
Kuma cared for Ashton for nine years, giving medications, doing diaper changes, helping with physical therapy and taking Ashton out into the sun.
“Caring for Ashton, honestly, it was so fun, just because of the people, all of his family. It was so fun, and I miss it, actually, because Ashton’s family became, became kind of like a family to us,” Kuma said. “Working here was fun. You never knew what was going to happen. Ashton’s a fighter, and I think we all know who he gets it from — his mom and his dad are fighters too.”
For Kuma, Ashton’s passing hasn’t been easy.
“It’s been hard because he felt like a huge part of my life. And even like coming to this house, it’s so weird for me, because I spent like almost nine years here. It’s been interesting. It’s an interesting transition in my life, like doing school nursing now it’s almost like Ashton, kind of like, propelled me into, like, this next chapter in my life, which I’m actually loving a lot, and I probably would have never left home care if it wasn’t for Ashton.”
Sarah now serves kids in the public school system.
“Sarah, we love you so much. You’re really priceless in our lives, and you’re part of our family forever,” Short said.
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