The Gift of Life Association will reach an exciting climax • Kobi is happy: "Since the transplant, my life has been wonderful" • Minister Trooper, who donated a kidney: "There was no fear"
Operating room in Israel // Photo: Yehoshua Yosef
A particularly exciting world record will be set today in the State of Israel, with the completion of the 1,000th transplant of altruistic kidney donation through the "Gift of Life" organization.
This special contribution will not be credited to the founder of the association, the late Rabbi Yeshayahu HaBar, who recently passed away from the coronavirus just one year ago.
Since Rabbi Haber founded the association, there has been a 400% increase in the number of kidney donors.
About two-thirds of donors are men and a third are women.
The most donating local authority in the country is the Mount Hebron Regional Council with more than 3.5 kidney donors per thousand inhabitants.
A particularly interesting statistic is that about 40% of donors are teachers and educators.
The savings to the state coffers from kidney transplants of the gift of life are estimated at more than four billion shekels, and this is reflected, among other things, in savings in treatments, days of hospitalization and medication.
Precisely in the last year, the year of Corona, there has been an increase in the number and pace of donors.
The association tells of weeks with five and even nine transplants a week.
The reason for the increase, they explain, is an awareness of the issue of kidney donations and the sense of mutual guarantee that the corona plague brought with it.
Kobi Oshrat, whose kidney donation saved his life last year, told Israel Today that "since the transplant, life has been wonderful. The transplant has been more successful than expected. My physical condition has improved miraculously. I am back to being a young guy. I feel wonderful, active, doing sports, performing. I went back 30 years and not a year has passed since the transplant. "
On the relationship with his donor, Yoav Matityahu, he adds: "We have become a family. He and his wife are amazing people."
"People who decide to donate a kidney save a sharp and smooth life. And it only happens here in Israel. It's amazing," he said.
Minister Hili Trooper, who donated a kidney a little over a year ago, told Israel Today that "there was no fear of donating. I sat down with the doctors before and they explained the process to me. I understood that the risk was very small. It took a few weeks to recover but after that I returned to full routine. "After, and if you do not talk to me about it, I will not mention that I did it. It is true that it is an operation, but the knowledge that it is highly likely to save lives - it wins everything."
"Pride of the State"
On the arrival of a thousand donors, Trooper says that "this is one of the greatest Israeli prides there is. Israel ranks first in the world in an altruistic donation from animals. We are a wonderful and magical people. It is an Israeli and Jewish wonder."
He said, "We have a well-developed self-criticism and there are enough troubles to complain about, but in my eyes it is an unparalleled human Israeli pride."
He concludes that "I am in contact with Yair (the one who received Troper's kidney, YS).
The surgery came out on his 60th birthday.
We're in touch, talking every Friday.
We did not miss a single Friday even when it was particularly busy.
It expands the heart over and over again. "
