Organs donated by Kalansuwa family save Jewish, Arab kids

Boy's father: Contribution reflects 'that Arabs and Jews in Israel all want peace and quiet.'

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
organs donates arab girl 248 (photo credit: courtesy)
organs donates arab girl 248
(photo credit: courtesy)
The parents of Anwar Abu Arar - a seven-and-a-half-year-old boy who suffered lower-brain death in a road accident four days ago - donated his organs, and two Arab and two Jewish children underwent transplants on Tuesday and Wednesday. "Children are always children," Khaled Abu Amar, the grief-stricken father, told The Jerusalem Post. "It doesn't matter if they are Arabs or Jews. If it's impossible to save my son, I want to help other children. It's a matter of conscience," he said. A week ago, Anwar was brought to the intensive care unit at in an effort to save him despite his severe injury in the accident. The boy had gone with his brothers to a store near the industrial area of Kalansuwa in the North and was hit by a car, whose driver called the police. "It is a problematic road," Khaled said. The family agreed to donate his heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. The heart and lungs went to an eight-year-old girl who suffered from a rare case of pulmonary hypertension, the liver to an 11-year-old boy born with a congenital disease and a kidney each to children aged three and five who had renal insufficiency. Khaled, who said he is a Muslim believer but not religious, did not go for advice to a kadi or other clergyman after a committee of two medical experts diagnosed lower-brain death. "I saw he was gone and that there was no chance for him to recover. It seemed logical to donate his organs to save others. I volunteered and raised the subject even before the hospital's transplant coordinator asked me if we would," said Khaled, who lives with his wife and remaining seven children in Kalansuwa and is employed in earth-moving. He said he had never discussed organ donation before, but did not hesitate to donate the organs even though he knew they would most likely go to Jewish children as well as Arab ones. "I know what it looks like when a Kassam rocket hits a house in Israel and a bomb hits a house in Gaza. My conscience decided. I hope this contribution of my son's organs will reflect the fact that Arabs and Jews in Israel all want peace and quiet," he said. In a few days, he hopes to visit "every family and every child and share with them their joy," he concluded. The marathon of transplant surgery was performed by four teams of surgeons and nurses. Most organ transplants in children today are performed at the Petah Tikva hospital, which is able to cope with several operations at once.