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For the last week or so I have been communicating with my friend Daniele Beccari from isango! He and his family are going through a terrible medical ordeal and he has reached out to his friends and colleagues for help in spreading the word and raising money to help cover the immense costs.  I cannot imagine the hardship Daniele and his family are going through, but anything I can do as a friend and colleague to help I will.  Please take a moment and consider the distances you would travel to save a loved one.

Guest Author, Daniele Beccari – I never thought that travel would one day be presented to me as an urgent, life-saving measure.

As for many, travel has been around me at every step of my life. I was born in Italy, studied also in the US and France, lived in Paris, Singapore, and Tokyo. I’ve also worked in London, Nice, or Boston. I have travelled for fun, discovery, business, friends, education, love, career, family and even just for the sake of travelling.

But today travel has come as the last chance to live for a person I love: another traveller, my brother-in-law Taro.

Taro has also travelled extensively to learn about the world and people.

He is a dreamer, and he never gave up his dream of living out his passion – to travel and see the world and write. He is a good guy. He likes cats. He likes stories of medieval warriors and battles. He likes gelato and ramen. He likes the Beatles and Sakamoto. He has a blog under a secret name. He cares for his family. He takes great pictures.

Taro is only 38 years old, and, six months ago, he was told that he only had a short time left to live. One of the first things that he told his family: “I just want to see Paris again… and maybe the Pyramids of Egypt”.

Doctors have tried everything possible to slow down his disease, but his condition has worsened day after day. He is now unable to move from his bed. He needs an urgent liver transplant for a rare, non-alcoholic form of cirrhosis. Chances to receive a transplant in Japan, in time, are less than zero.

With no suitable living donors in the family, we have embarked on a virtual world tour, calling all possible countries and hospitals to find an alternative. After months of research, we had only one (and legal) option left on the list: travelling, to receive a transplant in the US.

Full cost: north of $600,000 – mandatory advance deposit.

Two families’ combined savings: $150,000.

Taro’s life expectancy now: a few weeks.

Most families in Taro’s country give up and accept their fates. Some try harder.

And we tried this: if all the people we met while travelling could donate a small amount and spread the word…with a lot of small donations, we could pay for Taro’s trip of hope. We never travelled just to see stones; we always travelled to see people, and we knew that those people and memories had to be out there, somewhere.

With the Internet (e-mail, Facebook, Twitter) we found many of our fellow travellers, and we asked for help. We felt overwhelmed with the response that we received. Names that we have known 20 years ago have responded – people from 21 different countries. They exist, they remember our travelling together, and they donated. Now they are spreading the word to their families, their communities, and their cities. Collectively, they have donated more than $100,000 in only 7 days.

But we are running out of time, and we need more help now.

If you are a traveller, it’s almost certain that our paths have crossed, somewhere – that we could have met in a café or in a cathedral, in a canyon or in a lounge. You could certainly be one of our travel friends.

Please, if you also are a traveller, we are asking you to donate a small amount for Taro’s trip of hope.

Time is running out, please donate now.

Give him a chance to travel to his life.

Give him a chance to see Paris again.

To give Taro a fighting chance at life, please visit www.savetaro.com