Welcome to The Daniel Project.

This site came to existence because our son Daniel Tatsuo died on August 17, 2000. He was 10 years 4 months and 7 days old. Born with a severe congenital heart defect. We knew that he would have a life that was centered around his heart. He had his first operation when he was 3 days old. After 5 operations and more than 20 hospitalizations, his heart finally stopped beating on a sunny summer day in Sapporo, Japan.

About this site:

This site makes Daniel's life, his struggles, and most importantly, the joy he gave us, public. We believe and pray that his life was not in vain. He was a great blessing to our family, to our friends, and to the churches at the places where we lived - in Seligenstadt and Mainz in Germany, and Sendai and Sapporo in Japan. In having Daniel, my wife and I had the best example to see what is really important in life. Through Daniel, God showed us with such clarity that money, work, even health is not important! The only thing that matters in life, is life itself. And even though Daniel had a short life of 10 years, he lived his life fully. We took him as a gift from God, for that is what he was, knowing that he is loved by his creator even more that we could ever love him. It makes no difference whether we live long or short; if we die being 80 or 10. What we do with our lifes, how we respond to God's voice in us, this makes a full life.

It is our sincere hope that his site will help not only us, but also our relatives and friends, to overcome grief, and that this site will be of help and consolation to people who go through the same or similar situations

Please read Daniel's life story, what we and other people around the world have to say about him. You also are invited to contact us, or submit your own writings to these pages. But please, before doing that, read the side line on contributions, to the right of this writings.

Thank you and may God richly bless you.

Olaf Karthaus
karthaus@photon.chitose.ac.jp