(Photo: RMC)
By Rebecca Stadlen Amir - January 11, 2018
Originally appeared here in Israel21c
A 13-year-old boy from the Gaza Strip received a lifesaving kidney donation from his brother, an undergraduate student in Algeria, in an operation performed at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
The result: a functional kidney, a reunion between family members, and proof that conflict doesn’t penetrate hospital doors.
It wasn’t the first time the boy, K., had traveled to Israel for treatment. He was born with a hereditary kidney defect, leading to hospitalizations and surgeries at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Sheba Medical Center in central Israel.
His condition worsened in recent years. When he reached Rambam in May 2017, his kidney function was estimated at less than 20 percent.
The dilemma for his mother, a resident of Gaza and mother of six, was whether to start dialysis or to seek out a kidney donation from a relative. After compatibility tests for her and the boy’s 24-year-old brother, also from Gaza, were deemed unsuitable, they needed to look elsewhere for a lifesaving solution. Read More