CAIRO – In a choked and desperate voice, a young man talks about his 35-year-old wife's chronic disease. Her husband tries to pull himself together, but he seems to have lost all hope for his wife who suffers from kidney failure. The wife's journey with kidney disease started 18 months ago. Last week, she started attending kidney dialysis sessions, when she got her biggest shock: the dialysis won't work for long and a kidney transplant is indispensable. In her bid to have more time in this world, she has sought donors everywhere, but they seem to have made themselves scarce. A recent law that bans the sale of organs seems to be making the story of this ailing housewife more tragic. The law, which started coming into effect in June, says donations can only be made from within the family circle, which is no good for this woman, who's been unable to find a donor from her family. "This specific condition in the law greatly reduces the chances of my wife finding a donated kidney," her husband says. What adds to the poor woman's suffering is a deep ungratefulness on the part of all her family, who refuse to donate one of their kidneys to save her. "We've come to a dead-end," her husband says. "There are no options, it seems.” Despite all of this, the couple haven't lost hope. They ran a request for donation in a local newspaper a few weeks ago, apparently defying the new Organ Transplant Law, which bans donations from strangers. The law, however, does not ban donations from strangers who offer these organs for free. This might be the only hope for a woman who is having a hard time at both the physical and psychological levels. "I am really trying to abide by the law, but I will only try to search for a donor outside the family," the husband says, adding that the problem is that all the potential donors who've contacted him want money for donating a kidney. He and his wife are perhaps living proof of the suffering the new law might inflict on thousands of Egyptians who are desperate for organs to give them a new lease of life. They might also be living proof of poverty in this country where people sometimes have to sell bodily organs to pay off debts and put food on the table for their children. Most of the people who have rung her husband ask one question: “How much will you pay for the kidney?” "I know that running an ad in a newspaper like this to seek donors is unethical, but what else can I do?" says the husband, speaking on condition of anonymity. "I am not alone in this. Many other people run similar ads to find donors.” If he had the money, he could probably get the kidney his wife needs. He's poor, but he says he's prepared to borrow to save his wife's life. "My only hope now is to get a kidney from a deceased donor to evade the punishment in the law," he explains. "This would also mean not having to pay.”
