Echoes of Hiroshima resonate with cancer doctor

Sixty-five years ago, at the end of World War II, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As many as 246,000 people died.

Now, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric reports, one Japanese woman fears she's about to witness her second nuclear nightmare.

"If you could fold 1,000 origami birds than you can recover from the illness," said Dr. Ritsuko Komaki. "That's the symbol of longevity and happiness in Japan."

Komaki was 2 years old  when an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She and her family lived 200 miles away, but many of her relatives perished, and her grandmother became terribly ill.

"Her hair fell out she had nose bleeding," she said. "But she was taken away immediately and then she survived."

Complete coverage: Disaster in Japan

Komaki moved to Hiroshima and soon learned of radiation's long-term effects when her best friend Sadako Sasaki got sick.

"She was a very fast runner. She became very short of breath and she was short-winded," Komaki said. "She was found to have leukemia."

Sasaki tried to complete making 1,000 cranes - hoping it might cure her. She got to 644, before she died at age 12.

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Moved by the death of her friend, Komaki wanted to turn the radiation that caused such harm into a tool for healing. She became a radiation oncologist, now practicing at MD Anderson in Houston.

That's not the only irony. When the earthquake struck last week, she was flying to Tokyo to deliver a lecture. "I saw the TV broadcasting," she said, "that's the first time I realized this disaster happening."

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As the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant becomes increasingly dire, Hiroshima survivors see the same fear and uncertainty again nearly 66 years later.

"Children or babies especially if they were exposed to very high dose of radiation they will have very high risk of malignancy like leukemia or thyroid cancer," Komaki said.

Komaki and her friends raised money to build a statue in Sasaki's memory. It stands in Hiroshima's Memorial Park - a golden crane held high in her arms. For Komaki, it is a symbol of peace, but also a powerful reminder of the deadly effects of radiation she witnessed firsthand.

"When I grew up we were never told how much exposure we were getting," Komaki said. "So I am just hoping they will get accurate information in Japan and the people can help each other to recover."

There are about 240,000 survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still alive today.