34-year-old Mohammed Jomaah Al-Banna in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, performed the ultimate act of kindness this January by donating one of his kidneys to Wijdan Al-Enezi, a secondary school student who has suffered from chronic kidney disease since the age of six.
Speaking to Arab News, Al-Banna “explained that the motive behind his donation was to help a human being to enjoy an agony-free life again, with the hope that God would reward him in the hereafter for doing a good deed.”
He also explained that he had not informed anyone of his intention, and his family and friends only knew about it until after the surgery. Al-Banna also did not know Al-Enezi nor her family before the surgery and had approached the hospital with the intention to be of help to someone in need.
“I headed to the King Salman Armed Forces Hospital in Tabuk and explained that I wanted to donate one of my kidneys to any person whose blood type was compatible with mine […] My only precondition was that the recipient should be in urgent, demanding need of a kidney transplant. After some time, they suggested the girl’s name. The other required medical and official procedures were immediately taken,” Al-Banna explained.
Al-Enezi’s father, Mubarak, told the news agency that every day he had expected to hear the news of his daughter’s death.
“It was something like a family member who was sentenced to execution. You can imagine how desperate and despondent we were. We always looked at her as a person who was about to die,” Al-Enezi said.
According the Khaleej Times, Al-Enezi’s family had almost lost all hopes of her survival. “We could not see her suffering every day,” her father said. He also added that he could not find the words of thanks and appreciation for Al-Banna, who “gave my daughter a candle in the dark.”
