A 16-year-old girl from Cyprus found herself at the center of an unprecedented transplant chain that connected a Jewish volunteer donor, a Cypriot family, and two Arab couples who are citizens of Israel. The procedure lasted more than 12 hours and saved a total of four people—Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

The newspaper Israel Hayom published a full report today, including a photo of both the donor and the patients together. Standing next to the 16-year-old Cypriot girl, F.V., is her father. It also notes that the surgery had been postponed twice, once even on the very day she was scheduled to travel to Israel, due to the outbreak of war with Iran, at Schneider Children’s Medical Center.

The third attempt was successfully completed, in collaboration with Beilinson Hospital and the National Transplant Center of Israel. The medical marathon began at 5 a.m. and concluded at 7 p.m., with four pairs of donors and recipients undergoing surgery one after another. All recipients have already been discharged.

The chain was started by 52-year-old Asaf Mor from Hod HaSharon, a father of four, who selflessly donated one of his kidneys to the 16-year-old. “I thought I would save one person. I didn’t know that my kidney would give life to four people,” he said.

The 16-year-old’s mother was not a suitable match to donate directly to her daughter. However, she was found to be a match for 27-year-old Hana Saaban, an Arab woman from Majd al-Krum, who had been waiting years for a second transplant, as her previous transplant had failed after she contracted COVID-19.

Hanna’s husband then donated a kidney to Nail, also an Arab citizen of Israel, and Nail’s wife donated her own kidney to Orit, completing the chain of four transplants.

The director of the Transplant Department at Beilinson, Dr. Eviatar Nesser, described the Cyprus–Israel collaboration as “one of the most impressive successes of medical diplomacy.”

Source: CNA