Saudi Gazette report

MADINAH — A man in Hail donated one of his kidneys to save the life of a village girl, who was to him a complete stranger living several hundred miles away, Al-Madina newspaper reported on Saturday.

Abdullah Al-Marwani, a resident of Al-Faqali village in Yanbu governorate, said his daughter Munirah had been suffering for several years because of chronic renal failure.

“She had been going to Yanbu General Hospital for dialysis almost daily. It was very stressful on her and the family, who had to commute to the city every day for her treatment. Over time, her condition worsened. She needed a kidney transplant to save her life,” said Al-Marwani.

He said all of her relatives did blood tests to see if they could be suitable donors but none of them matched.

“We lost all hope as there was no donor in sight for the transplant to take place. One of our relatives posted a 140-character message on Twitter summarizing Munirah’s condition along with his phone number. Even though we didn’t really have any hope of the tweet having any effect, we still posted it out of desperation,” said Al-Marwani.

However, within a few hours of tweeting the message, the family received a phone call from a man from Hail province.

“Salman Al-Shammary talked to us on the phone and his heavy Hail accent was audible. He asked more about Munirah's condition and promised to come over to Yanbu and go through medical examinations to ensure that he was a suitable donor. He came to Yanbu within a few days and underwent medical examinations at Yanbu Royal Commission Hospital,” said Al-Marwani.

He said the hospital last week transplanted one of Al-Shammary's kidneys to Marwah.

“Both Marwah and Al-Shammary left the hospital in good health. Marwah’s family held a feast in honor of the donor and his family for his noble humanitarian act,” said Al-Marwani.