When Maya Crahe-Sato had to sleep at her son's bedside in a children's hospital near Tokyo, a makeshift cot offered to her was so thin that her French husband described it as like lying on the grates of a barbecue grill.
After her son Leon was found in 2017 to have developed neuroblastoma, a type of cancer, at the age of 4, he was hospitalized in Belgium, France and Japan for treatment, with Crahe-Sato, now 45, often remaining by his side during each stay.
Crahe-Sato wanted to stay with her child at Japanese hospitals to provide emotional support, but she experienced a "culture shock" due to the markedly different approach, not to mention the meager accommodation, compared with overseas medical facilities.