Dorothy Naor on Lina: A sick West Bank child triumphs over occupation

                             
By Dorothy Naor

Lina, spunky and cute, will be four years old on March 26, 2006.  She lives in Kira (population 1,200) on the West Bank, with her dad (Fareed), mom (Amina), and seven year-old brother (Eyad) and a large extended family.  When Lina was one, physicians diagnosed her with end-stage renal disease, eventually requiring a kidney transplant. On October 2, 2005, the transplant took place.

During the two and a half intervening years, Lina spent many days in hospitals due to such effects of kidney failure as hypertension and hernia (caused by the accumulation of fluids in her tiny body).  For over a year, she weighed a mere 24 pounds.  Time was not in Lina’s favor.  This is her story, including its ups and downs.

Lina was two and a half years old when dialysis began — performed by Amina at home five times daily.  Three immediate problems faced the family: finding a donor, finding a hospital and money for the transplant. 

Anna (a peace activist from abroad), Fareed, and I met in April, 2003 at the "Mas'ha Camp Against the Wall" — where Israelis, Palestinians and internationals met to protest the expropriation of 92 percent of the village of Mas’ha's land, and to study and educate others about the impact of the wall in disrupting life in the West Bank.  Several months later, a worried Fareed told Anna and myself about Lina’s condition, and that neither he nor Amina were suitable donors. Anna returned home but remained in contact with the family.  In November, 2004 she volunteered to donate her kidney.  In April, 2005 she returned to the West Bank to undergo medical examinations, which showed her compatible with Lina, and a suitable donor.  Anna again returned home until a hospital and funds were found.

Hospitals in the occupied Palestinian territories are not equipped to perform transplants on children of Lina’s weight, nor is Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, where Lina had been hospitalized several times.  Even Israel has only a single hospital that regularly performs pediatric transplants: Schneider Children’s Hospital.  But its $40,000 fee was prohibitive. 

Anna, Fareed, and I began searching elsewhere for a hospital when Lina was two and a half years old, checking out hospitals in various countries.  The traffic in organs has caused many countries to prohibit transplants from donors unrelated to the recipient.  Almost a year passed. Failing to find a hospital elsewhere, we returned to Israel, where unrelated donor organs are allowed on the proviso that the donor is an "altruistic donor" (i.e, one who gives rather than sells an organ). 

While searching for hospitals, Anna, Fareed and I also sought funds.  Of  40 charitable organizations that we appealed to, only four responded, three advising that they dealt solely with organizations, not with individual cases.  One offered $2,000 if we could raise the rest.  Our appeals to private parties touched many hearts, but brought only about $5,000. The Palestinian Authority pays for transplant surgery if the donor is related to the family.  Eventually, it agreed to help Lina with $20,000 — a big step forward, but this still left $20,000 more to raise.  Then, the Peres Center for Peace agreed to donate $10,000 on the proviso that the hospital would lower its cost an equal amount.  

Lina’s condition was worsening.  The transplant would be needed soon.  But Schneider Hospital refused to lower its price. 

In desparation, we decided to solicit other Israeli hospitals.  The first we tried, Hadassah Hospital at Ein Kerem, saved the day.  Professor Ahmed Eid, chief surgeon of the transplant unit, responded that theoretically the transplant was possible. Dr. Yuval Weiss, the hospital’s assistant director, agreed to the Peres-Center condition and reduced the fee by $10,000.  These 10-minute phone negotiations went so quickly and smoothly that we were speechless.  After almost a year of searching, we had found the solution, right here under our noses. 

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