DL Life Logo March 23, 2013 - - - - 117,280 AMERICANS ARE CANDIDATES ON THE UNOS TRANSPLANT WAIT LIST DL Life Logo 95,578 waiting for a kidney DL Life Logo 15,712 wait-listed for a liver DL Life Logo 1,189 waiting for a pancreasDL Life Logo 2,136 needing a Kidney-PancreasDL Life Logo 3,490 waiting for a life-saving heartDL Life Logo 1,668 waiting for a lungDL Life Logo 50 waiting for a heart-lungDL Life Logo 257 waiting for small bowelDL Life Logo One organ donor has the opportunity to save up to 8 lives DL Life Logo One tissue donor has the opportunity to save and -or enhance the lives of 50 or more individuals DL Life Logo You have the power to SAVE Lives by becoming an organ, eye and tissue donor, so what are you waiting for? To learn how to register click HEREDL Life Logo

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Kidney transplant becomes a journey that proves love knows no boundaries

The Garden Island | Lauren Canalejas


Joey Koehne/Contributed photo: Sitting on Royal are George ‘The Greek’ Veremis and his 10-year-old son Kainoa, a.k.a Sunny, because ‘He’s such a shining personality,’ according to Veremis.

LIHU‘E – On Sept. 8, two companions embark on the adventure of a lifetime. George Veremis “The Greek” and Alfred “Yoshee” Hamada Sr. leave Kauai’s North Shore for the University of California, San Francisco where the former will donate his kidney to the latter.

“When I found out we were the same blood type, we went ahead with the testing to see if it could work,” Veremis said.

A year and a half later, after numerous steps taken to ensure compatibility between the two, the verdict finally came out. “The kidneys were tightly compatible,” Veremis said. “It’s as if we were related.”

Hamada became Veremis’ godfather by adopting him and looking after him with unwavering dedication for years, even though the donor admitted to be at the time of adoption a young, rebellious surfer.

Now Veremis, 57, will do the biggest thing he has ever done in his life by donating one of his kidneys that will hopefully save Hamada’s life. The operation is due on Sept. 21.

Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}

No comments: