Heart warming story

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=163927

Bring Hearts Closer, Bring Peace Closer
JERUSALEM, Nov 8 (OANA/Xinhua) -- Twelve-year-old Israeli girl Samah Gadban lay on bed at Schneider Children's Medical Center in the Israeli town of Petah Tikvah Monday afternoon, her mother sitting by her bed holding her hand.

Samah got a new heart Monday, a heart once belonged to a Palestinian boy.

Of the same age of Samah, Ahmed al-Khatib was fatally shot during clashes in the west Bank city of Jenin last Thursday, when Israeli troops mistook the toy gun he carried for a real rifle.

Ahmed was transferred from a Palestinian hospital to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel. He died of his wound only after 48 hours, leaving his parents with unbearable agony.

Soon after they heard the news of Ahmed's death, the parents made a startling decision: to donate his organs to sick people, "no matter Israelis or Arabs".

A few hours later, Ahmed's heart, liver, kidneys and lungs were sent to many hospitals with the help of the national transplant center.

Besides the heart, the boy's liver was given to a six-month-old baby and a 56-year-old woman; his lungs were given to a 14-year-old girl; and his kidneys were given to a five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl.

The transplant surgeries proceeded as quickly as possible and the life of Ahmed continued in six Israelis.

The father of the heart receiver, Riad Gadban, told Israel Radio that when the hospital phoned him Saturday evening, he did not know anything about Ahmed.

"I only knew that the doctors said they had a heart." Riad said the family had waited for the heart for five years.

Riad heard Ahmed's story while his daughter was in surgery. "I don't know what to say. It is such a gesture of love...I would like (Ahmed's parents) to think that my daughter is their daughter. "

When asked why donated the organs, Jamal al-Khatib, father of the boy, said "I had an older brother who suffered from kidney failure and there were no transplants available. When the doctor told me that my boy was clinically dead, I remembered my brother."

"I don't mind seeing the organs in an Israeli or a Palestinian. In our religion, God allows us to give organs to another person and it doesn't matter who the person is," he told Israeli channel Two TV.

Dr Tzvi Ben-Ishai, the deputy director of Rambam hospital, said the uncle of Ahmed, who lives in an Israeli Arab village, is a member of a non-governmental organisation that seeks to improve the understanding and dialogue between Israelis and Arabs.

It was him who helped desperate parents in making such a difficult and noble decision.

Ben-Ishai added that the boy's parents decided to donate his organs "to bring hearts closer and bring peace closer."Upon leaving the hospital, Jamal al-Khatib expressed his only wish: to meet the recipients of his son's organs to ensure that they were healthy. "The most important thing is that when I see the person who received the organ, I see him alive," said the father.


Selflessness. I'm deeply touched by this story. No matter what kind of race, ethnic, religion, country or color different we are from, we are still human. Cherish what and who you love. Cherish those who loves you.

I believe everyone is born into this world with a kind heart. Love is around!!!

Here's a posting in jeffooi.com, with some comment from people around. Interesting comments.