Paheja Siririka
WINDHOEK – The mother of an 11-year-old twin boy has appealed to Good Samaritans to financially assist her as her son prepares to undergo a kidney transplant in South Africa.
The mother, Pauline Chigumbu, said her son Shaali Iipinge is suffering from chronic renal failure, while doctors at the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Johannesburg estimate that the kidney transplant will cost about N$900 000.
Shaali, who is a pupil at Welwitchia Private School in Windhoek, was diagnosed with posterior urethral valve and had to undergo an operation at the age of three to help release the pressure on his kidney.
According to his mother, Shaali has had over 25 operations since he was born. His situation deteriorated in November 2017 when he suffered acute kidney failure, resulting in him having to go for dialysis three times a week for a three-hour session. His twin sister is doing fine and has no health complications, according to the mother.
“Now that I have found a donor, we need monetary support because we need funds to fly the donor to South Africa and since medical aid has indicated that they will not cover accommodation and flight tickets, we also need money for that while we are there. It is difficult to tell how long we are required to be there because the transplant has to be done to determine the duration we are expected to be there,” she said. According to her, the doctor informed her that Shaali was born with damaged kidneys.
“The one twin wasn’t passing urine, and it was flowing back to the kidney which ended up destroying it. They told me it was a bladder problem and over the years, this led to the kidneys shutting down. In 2017, that is when the kidneys shut down and we started with the dialysis,” she told New Era. Shaali was fortunate that a Good Samaritan offered to donate one of her kidneys. “The need to help someone else when you can is what prompted me to donate one of my kidneys,” said the donor, Judene Taljaard, 33, an administrative assistant from Windhoek. She further told New Era that little Shaali didn’t ask for this.
“If you, as a person can help somebody else, why not? I know a lot of people who don’t see it that way but I am not that kind of a person,” said Taljaard. Having only met Shaali twice, Taljaard said she had grown fond of him. “I enjoy his company, he is a cute child. I hope someone comes through for him with a donation or help him get where he needs to be,” she stated.
Due to the condition that caused Shaali to go into renal failure, the doctors have indicated he needs to undergo some tests on his bladder before a transplant can be performed. Chigumbu, a chartered accountant by profession, said her son has to be fully desensitised for him to be fully compatible with the donor, as they are not relatives.