Palestinian boy's organs save three Israeli children

Organs from a Palestinian boy have saved the lives of three Israeli children in a rare and complicated series of transplant operations.

The 11-year-old Palestinian, Kaher Uda, had been declared brain dead after falling off the roof of his house.

Doctors at the Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv then carried out a rare operation known as a domino transplant yesterday.

The boy’s lungs and heart were transplanted into a 13-year old girl suffering from the lung-destroying disease cystic fibrosis, who also received a new heart even though her own heart was healthy.

“Giving her a new heart greatly increases the chances of success for the lung transplant,” said hospital spokeswoman Vered Kvitel.

The girl’s healthy heart was then transplanted into an 11-year old girl. Kvitel said it was the first time that a transplant had been conducted from a living donor in Israel.

Kaher’s kidneys were transplanted into an 11-year old boy who suffered from a liver disease that also affected his kidneys. All three recipients were Israeli Arabs.

“We supported the whole process that is both happy and sad,” Raed Uda, the brother’s donor, told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

“It did not matter to us who received the organs, Jews or Arabs, it is not important,” he said. “The important thing is that we saved the lives of children.”