John Arruda was sent to the isolated Kalaupapa Peninsula in 1945 following his Hansen’s disease diagnosis and Friday celebrated his 100th birthday in the Kalaupapa Settlement, where only eight Hansen’s Disease patients remain — furthering discussions about who should have a say in the future of the historic settlement.

“The State of Hawai‘i has provided me with everything, and that’s why I have this beautiful Kalaupapa, which has kept me going all these years and where I call home,” Arruda said in a statement. “I don’t have any worries.”

Gov. Josh Green wrote a commemorative message for Arruda’s birthday celebration, referring to him as someone who embodies “resilience, courage, and the indomitable human spirit.”

“John’s refusal to be defined by adversity, and his determination to embrace life with boundless energy and joy, are an invaluable testament to the power of hope and the human spirit,” Green wrote. “His tireless advocacy for the preservation of Kalaupapa’s legacy serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of honoring our shared history and cherishing our communities, and his infectious laughter and zest for life are a constant source of inspiration to those around him.”

Valerie Monson, a friend of Arruda’s for 35 years, said Arruda went through “so much pain and anguish,” as he watched his father being taken away because of Hansen’s disease and then, years later, his own diagnosis tore him away from his fiancee and everyone he knew.

At the age of 100, Arruda still lives on his own in Kalaupapa, driving his truck to wherever he wants and has the mental sharpness of “people 50 years younger,” Monson said.

An estimated 8,000 islanders were banished to Kalaupapa on Molokai’s isolated peninsula after being diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, then known as leprosy, from 1866 to 1969, when policies that kept patients quarantined in the settlement were lifted.

Father Damien de Veuster arrived in Kalawao — located on the eastern side of the Kalaupapa Peninsula — to minister to the patients in 1873 and remained until his death in 1889 at age 49 after contracting Hansen’s disease.

Damien’s faith and devotion to improving the lives of the ostracized community led to his being declared Hawaii’s first Catholic saint — in 1995.

Mother Marianne Cope and other Sisters of St. Francis were serving in Syracuse, N.Y., when Cope answered a plea for nuns from King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani in 1883 to care for Hawaii’s women and children. She soon began treating Hansen’s disease patients on Oahu and Maui, where she also established Maui’s first general hospital, Malulani Hospital.

In January 1884, Cope met Damien on Oahu before he was diagnosed with Hansen’s disease in 1886.

Cope arrived in Kalaupapa in 1888 before Damien’s death the following year.

Cope died of kidney and heart disease in 1918 at the age of 80 at Kalaupapa’s Bishop Home and was buried on the grounds.

She became Hawaii’s second Catholic saint, in a 2012 Vatican canonization ceremony attended by nine of the then-surviving patients, who made the 10,000-mile pilgrimage to Rome.

In 1997, Hawaii state law guaranteed that any patient resident of Kalaupapa could live there as long as they wanted.

The state Health Department’s Hansen’s Disease Branch takes care of patients’ needs and the National Park Service has responsibility for the Kalaupapa National Historic Park.

Out of 8,000 Hansen’s disease patients sent to Kalaupapa beginning in 1886, Arruda and seven others remain.

Monson said five patient residents, including Arruda, still reside on Kalaupapa, and the other three are on Oahu.

Monson — the executive director of Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, which includes Hansen’s disease patients — said before Kalaupapa was designated as a leprosy settlement in 1865, Hawaiian communities had lived for generations on the Kalaupapa Peninsula and in nearby Waikolu Valley.

Senate Bill 2289 would require the Health Department to provide regular reports to the Legislature about the ongoing management and operations of the Kalaupapa Settlement, specifically areas such as medical and basic living needs of the residents, promotion of a positive living environment and management of state resources.

SB 2289 also discusses the transfer of powers and duties to other entities after the last patient dies.

The latest version of the bill allows the DOH to include details about efforts to work with different groups from Molokai, such as Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, in an executive transition team.

Monson said in written testimony that Kalaupapa patients organized Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa in 2003 because they wanted to make sure “their wishes would guide the future of Kalaupapa. They feared that outsiders or those with little experience at Kalaupapa would be making those decisions without seeking the input of those long involved with the community.”

Monson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that because Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa has so much background, experience and institutional knowledge about Kalaupapa, she wishes that the state would include the organization in the conversation about Kalaupapa’s future.

The National Park Service only owns about 23 acres at the end of the peninsula, Monson said. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands owns 1,300 acres of Kalaupapa and the remaining two-thirds is under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“At this time, it appears that this team includes only government officials, many of them new to their positions and new to knowing about Kalaupapa,” she said. “We would think they would want Ka ‘Ohana to be included at the start of the process.

“We believe we could add a lot to the discussion and be helpful. We want to be involved before a plan is nearly finalized.

“It seems like, to government agencies, whenever anyone dies at Kalaupapa their voice dies with them,” Monson said. “So when they say they are consulting with the patients, they are only talking a few people who are living and not taking into consideration the voices of those who were involved in earlier years.”

She called the patients “among our finest citizens.”

Arruda, Monson said, takes good care of himself — “reaching 100 is no accident.” He watches what he eats, exercises every day, keeps up with his family and friends and stays up-to-date with news, she said.

“Despite the prevailing belief that Kalaupapa was a place to die, Arruda maintained a resilient spirit,” Kalaupapa volunteers said in a statement. “Over the years, he defied expectations, finding love, happiness, and success. He worked on the Suez Canal, witnessed Father Damien’s canonization, and fought to regain custody of his daughter.”