Kidney donor found for ailing Bensonhurst girl

April 15, 2019 Paula Katinas
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Parents, teachers and students in the School District 21 community are breathing a big sigh of relief after learning that a donor has been found for a seriously ill Bensonhurst girl desperately in need of a kidney transplant.

Eyewitness News was the first to report that a donor has stepped forward to help save ten-year-old Khadijah Sabir’s life.

When it was learned that a donor had finally been found, the District 21 Community Education Council posted a two-word reaction on Facebook. “Great news!” the message read.

“It’s wonderful. We’re all so relieved,” a woman who answered the phone in the CEC office on Friday morning told this newspaper.

The donor, whose identity has not been made public, has already undergone medical tests and it has been determined that the person is a good match, Eyewitness News reported.

It is not known when the kidney transplant will take place.

Readers of this newspaper became familiar with Khadijah’s plight after an article was published last month about the search for a kidney donor.

Khadijah, a fifth grader at P.S. 177, has suffered from chronic kidney failure for more than a year and requires a transplant to have any hope of leading a normal life. The youngster issued a heart-felt plea for a donor on the National Kidney Registry’s website.

“I pray everyday that God can send me someone to give me their kidney. I want to live a normal life like other kids my age,” wrote Khadijah, who is one of four children.

There had been an all-out effort to find a donor, according to CEC 21 officials. The CEC sent out notices to all of its 40 schools asking potential donors to step forward. The CEC covers schools in Coney Island, Gravesend and parts of Bensonhurst.

Officials at Khadijah’s school, P.S. 177, also joined the search for a donor, reaching out to parents of students to see if anyone would be willing to be tested to determine if they were a match.

In her message on the National Kidney Registry’s website, Khadijah wrote that she is grateful for the love and care she is getting from her family and her doctors. “They all are so good to me and do everything they can to make my life a bit easy,” she wrote.

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