By Mohammed Al-Muailhi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

DHIBA — A Saudi man suffering from kidney failure had a transplant but he had no idea who donated the kidney to him to save his life until he was out of the operations room.

When he became sober from the anesthesia, Mohammed Ismail Ashour Al-Saigh realized that the donor was no one else but Wala, his 23-year-old daughter.

The transplant operation was done at the Armed Forces Hospital in Tabuk.

"I lived the suffering of my father for three years with him after both his kidneys failed and he started having dialysis three times a week. He was told that he had to have a kidney transplant if he wanted to live longer," Wala said.

She said her fears for her father increased every time he said goodbye to them while going for the dialysis. "I saw tears in his eyes and my heart broke," she said.

Wala said she sneaked into her father's room when he was away for the dialysis and took the medical reports.

"I kept the reports secretly with me and went with my brothers for the medical checks in the hospital," she said.

Wala said the tests proved that her tissues were identical with her father's so the hospital picked her up.

Wala said before they went from Dhiba to Tabuk for the operation, she told her father that his predicament would end in a week after a donor, who did not want to be identified, decided to give a kidney to him.

She said when her father was awake from the anesthesia in the aftermath of the operation, he saw her on the bed next to him in theater outfit and realized that it was she who donated her kidney to him.

Wala reassured him that this was the least she could do for him after he spent his whole life taking good care of them.

"It is time that we repay you for all the good things you have done for us. You have brought us up properly, built a beautiful house for us and guarded us with your life," she told her father.

Wala said she saw tears coming out of the eyes of her grateful father. "I am extremely happy that my kidney suited my father and that I have donated it to him," she said.