Mother of four: I am healthy and ready to donate my kidney
Palestine, Local, 12/6/1997

She took everybody by surprise. A little notice she published in the local newspaper of As-Sinnara in Nazareth some two weeks ago shocked many people. Ranya Zughby had expressed her willingness to donate one of her kidneys for transplant provided it goes to someone who badly needs it and, surprisingly enough, for free.

"Since I made public my intention to donate my kidney, so many people have approached me asking for details. How much I wished I had as many kidneys as possible to donate to all these people. I am very much confused now. I do not know who is more in need of my kidney," said Ranya at her humble little house in the village of Dabbouriya in the Galilee in the north.

She stressed that neither her small apartment nor her financial condition were behind her decision. "Almost a year ago," she said, "I was watching a TV program about a girl in her early 30s who suffered of a kidney malfunction but could not find any donor. I felt so sad for her. I wished I could help her but of course could not. It was only a TV program but the image of that girl never abandoned my mind. Later, I thought to myself, one day I should donate my kidney to someone who is badly in need. I cannot stand seeing people suffering without extending any aid to them."

Ranya married when she was 16. Today she is in her late 20s with four children, whose ages are between seven and eleven, and a husband who works in Tel Aviv and comes back home only once a month. She said she never had any disease She refuted some reports that she was having a fatal disease and wanted to donate her kidney because she knew she was going to die soon. "It is all nonsense. I am totally healthy and do not suffer of any disease. I have already expressed my readiness to undergo a thorough medical check before taking any further step," she said and noted her decision is irreversible.

Transplant of body organs has become popular but only in after-death cases. Either someone would indicate while alive that his organs are available for donation directly after his death or if someone is in a critical condition and his closest relatives decide to donate his organs to save lives of others. In Ranya's case, she said she wanted to initiate a new code of behavior in which people donate some of their organs even when they are healthy and young. She said the only conditions she presents to the potential recipient of her kidney is to be badly in need for the kidney and for his or her age to be reasonable -- between 15 and 40 -- and to consider her a sister in the family.

So far, Ranya said, she has not found her target recipient but has already started a number of medical procedures at the Israeli hospital of Rambam in Haifa. Once she is ready, she hopes the appropriate person shows up.

Previous Stories:
  Arab girls' flat torched again in less than 2 months   (12/1/1997)
  Israel prevents Palestinian from needed treatment   (11/21/1997)
  A fortune that almost evaporated   (11/20/1997)

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