Bernard Punikai'a was 6 years old when he was diagnosed with Hansen's disease, snatched from his family and sent to a hospital in Kalihi where he lived in isolation.

When he was 11, soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the young boy was uprooted again and this time banished to the remote Kalaupapa peninsula on Moloka'i where people with what was then called leprosy lived. He suffered for years, often crying at night for his mother.

Despite being given just months to live, Punikai'a survived. And because of his experience of being shunned by the general population and government, he would make it his mission to fight for the sick, the weak and those who could not fight for themselves.

Punikai'a, a civic leader, activist, educator and musician, died Wednesday at Le'ahi Hospital. He was 78.

Longtime friend Wally Inglis said several of his closest friends gathered at Punikai'a's bedside for a musical celebration on Wednesday. Punikai'a died about an hour later.

"We had a very nice gathering for him," Inglis said. "There was a sense that he was leaving soon."

Punikai'a had suffered several strokes over the years and had been bedridden for a while, Inglis said. Although he was in frail health, he continued to inspire others around him.

"He showed that people who had Hansen's disease were not just victims, but they were people who had a sense of dignity and were willing to stand up and speak out for it," Inglis said. "He was an example to a lot of people, not just here, but around the world. They knew what he had done here and were inspired by him."

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie and his wife, Nancie Caraway, visited Punikai'a on Sunday to say goodbye. The three had been friends for nearly 30 years.

"I had seen him on Sunday and he held my hand," Abercrombie said. "It was very, very difficult for him to talk, but he lit up when I reminded him of our Hale Mohalu days. I told him that Nancie and I loved him and he was my brother and hero.

"I told him that Kamiano (Father Damien) was named a saint and that he would soon be with him and Kamiano would welcome him into Heaven.

"Bernard was a great humanitarian hero. I only hope to live up to his standards."

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Punikai'a was thrown into the public eye in 1978 when the state sent eviction notices to residents at Hale Mohalu, a residential treatment facility for Hansen's disease patients in Pearl City. The state planned to transfer the residents from the dilapidated facility to the state-run Le'ahi Hospital.

Frustrated that the residents wouldn't leave, the state shut off electricity and water to the complex and withheld patient medication.

Led by Punikai'a and fellow patient Clarence Naia, the residents stood their ground until 1983, when the state forcibly evicted 18 residents and supporters. Soon after, bulldozers tore down their home.

Dr. Fred Dodge, one of the supporters who was arrested, was an admirer and friend of Punikai'a. Dodge went to Hale Mohalu to offer help soon after he heard that the state had cut off medical aid to the residents.

"They didn't know who I was, but they gave me a try," Dodge said. "They were really great people. A group of us were volunteering, and that's how we got to know them and that's why we stood with them when the bulldozers came in."

Inglis said it was treatment like this that helped mold Punikai'a into the human-rights advocate that he would become. One of the people Punikai'a most admired was Father Damien, who ministered to patients at Kalaupapa and will be elevated to sainthood in October.

"He just had a real innate sense of justice, what people should have by right," Inglis said of Punikai'a. "He always had a feeling that even though he and others were well treated at Kalaupapa, still that sense of being involuntarily separated from family and isolated, even as a young person, he had kind of a rebellious nature, a rebellious streak in him if he thought or knew something wasn't right."

LEPROSY MOVEMENTS

Punikai'a was active in worldwide leprosy movements and attended four International Leprosy Congresses. He was named president of the International Association for Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement, an advocacy group for people with Hansen's disease.

Locally, he served on the state Board of Health and was on the committee that fought for the development of an apartment complex for disabled senior citizens at the old Hale Mohalu site.

Punikai'a also was a composer and musician. One of his more popular tunes was "Kalaupapa, My Home Town."

Inglis said Punikai'a never let his medical condition prevent him from living life to its fullest. Along the way, he also inspired others to do the same.

"His legacy is that people can speak for themselves," Inglis said, "that people who are considered to be either a minority or disabled or in a certain sense helpless, that even though they can use help from all of us, that they are their best advocates."

Several years ago, Punikai'a wrote an essay about a photo of himself that was taken when he was 6. He wrote about the pain and suffering, about missing his mother, and about the "crime" of contracting the disease.

But Punikai'a also wrote about the person that he would become and the happy life that he would someday have.

"As I look at the photo of the 6-year-old boy who was me, something is happening," Punikai'a wrote. "His pain is commingling with my spirit and it is no longer his alone. I want to tell him that the time will come when there will be laughter, there will be joy, there will be respect and, yes, there will be dignity.

"But I won't tell him that it will take a lifetime before this happens."

Services are pending. Inglis said Punikai'a will be buried in Kalaupapa.