This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

The Donor,The Recipient And A New Life

Ironically enough the story starts about five years ago when I went to the hospital for what I thought was a routine diagnostic procedure to see if I had kidney stones.

 

After an exam I found out that was the least of my problems. The hospital wanted to do a CAT scan on me and they did.  Unfortunately, I was given a dose of iodine through my blood and it put me in direct kidney failure. That was the beginning of my troubles it was March 2009.

Find out what's happening in Aberdeenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

As luck has it I was doing okay for the next few years. Unfortunately in the fall of 2012 my kidneys started failing for the second time. I was immediately put on dialysis which was not a very fun experience. My family and my wife were very supportive.  My wife Linda was always by my side and she said don't worry because she wanted to be my donor and she would be my donor!

Find out what's happening in Aberdeenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

For the next seven months I was in dialysis three times a week.   I was also making preparations for my kidney transplant that I knew would be inevitable.

 

After much research I registered at three regional medical centers. Georgetown Medical Center in Washington DC.and Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York.

 

And my local medical center University of Maryland medical center.  I spent a full day in each facility going over test after test, blood tests, psychological evaluations, physical evaluations and I was told I'd be put on the list

 

Which in simple English means I would be on a waiting list from anywhere from five years if I wanted a standard normal transplant.  Alternatively, I could bring them a donor and they would do the surgery tomorrow.  Some choice huh?

 

During those months my wife was also getting evaluated to make sure she was a good fit. She went through many tests and went through a lot herself.  In the last round of evaluations, the doctors discovered that she too had potential kidney issues and would not be a fit donor.  Needless to say it was very depressing from her standpoint as well as mine. My sure shot was now not happening.

 

We had to rethink the situation and suddenly we become proactive to find a donor for myself because the thought of waiting five to eight years for a kidney was the direction I was not seeking. 

 

Linda and I came up with an action plan and we gathered some of our friends who were willing to help us and we decided a plan of action.

 

While this was happening several of my friends and relatives were kind enough to step up to the plate and said they wanted to help.

 

One by one, seven of my candidates struck out and I was beginning to learn it's not that easy to get a kidney.  One of the candidates who was succeeding in it looked like he might be my angel in waiting. It was Cousin Yossi!

 

Yossi is very special to me and he has been his whole life! Yossi Burstyn.

 

 

 

People would always ask how we were related. Yes he always said I was his uncle and I would say he's my nephew, reality wise we are second cousins.

 

Well Yossi was one of the ones that stepped up to the plate and he was the candidate that was to be my match!

 

When it actually happened the whole concept was so surreal to be honest with you, I still don't believe it happened.

 

But I know I don't go to dialysis three times a week anymore and my kidney function seems to be doing very well.

 

People asked me does it feel good. I feel different. I feel like something is in there that is different and fine being there.

 

 

I just smile and say I got my little Yossi with me wherever I go!

 

I am blessed to have the new kidney; more important I am double blessed to have a new kidney from my Yossi. Yossi has got a heart of gold and my kidney is for the person that Yossi is. I am truly a blessed person! These thoughts written above by Harry for this article.

I have known Harry D. Burstyn since we all bought new homes in 1964 in our newly developed community, it is called Pickwick named after the well-known book Pickwick Papers. My kids were the ages of three and an infant. Harry was about two I imagine when he moved into the homes on a different street and these homes backed up to the rear of our homes. My son and Harry were good friends and the kids went back and forth to each other’s homes. On Saturdays, my mom came to spend the day with us and as soon as she came in, she went and did a mitzvah (good deed) by visiting Harry’s grandmother they called Ba. My Mom Lea enjoyed talking in Yiddish with Ba. The older lady spoke Hebrew and Yiddish and she enjoyed having a younger woman speak with her. Mom would go out the back and walk across the lawns and wrap on Ba’s door and the older woman was so happy to see Mom. Mom stayed a half hour and she did this until she was not well and did not come over to my house; we went to her apartment to visit her.

Harry was a nice youngster, kind, caring and generous. My son enjoyed their friendship and they were two years apart in age. Harry is now 50 and Jeffrey is 48. They have not seen one another for about thirty-six years and they hope to meet once again when Jeffrey comes from out of town to visit here.

He relates his story above, all in his own words as to the journey, not such a fine one until it became a journey of love, hope and survival.

 

Cousin Yossi Burstyn gave his healthy kidney to Cousin Harry Burstyn on Tuesday December 3rd at University of Maryland Hospital and this was conducted by several surgeons and one was Dr. Silke Niederhaus who herself is a kidney transplant survivor. She was a member of the team working on Yossi and Harry. This is a special connection she has with the donor and recipient of this unbelievable procedure.

Cousin Yossi is a twenty-nine year old young man, married to Adina Burstyn who indeed plays a part in Yossi donating his kidney because any operation is certainly a risk. They have two daughters Ahuva age six and a half and Tehilla age three. Adina is a caring individual who took on the burden of not knowing how everything would turn out for her husband Yossi and the care and recuperation needed for him upon his homecoming. Her decency and love for a cousin superseded her worries. Everything turned out fine and Adina, the Angel Yossi and the two daughters are getting back to normalcy now.

Linda, Harry’s beloved wife and their two children Shana a college graduate and working in Boston and their son Aaron a high school student looking into colleges shared their mom’s worries, concerns and fear.

Yossi is an investor relations representative at a capital venture company and Harry is a senior benefit representative here in Pikesville where they both reside.

There are a lot of happy sayings out there in Internet land. They are very encouraging, inspiring and thoughtful. “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning to dance in the rain.” Also “some of the best days of your life have not happened and the best is yet to come.”

 Harry emailed me that he lived about one block from his parents’ home and when he moved away to a new home, another block away, his mom said it was too far away. She wanted as all parents do to have their grown children and grandchildren as close as possible.

Harry’s late parents would be so proud of him and this accomplishment medically and psychologically that he has gone through. Their names were Toba and Perry and Harry was their baby boy as all of us moms think about our youngest child.

I often tell my youngest grandson, that his daddy is my baby boy. He looks at me and says “he is not a baby boy, he is my daddy.”

Toba and Perry would be so thankful to Harry’s private Angel, Yossi, they would be kvelling (proud of) their cousin who sacrificed his own comfort and a lack of his other kidney to do this for his cousin and his family.

 

The best days of Yossi and Harry’s lives are yet to come and when it does, the other Angels will still be looking out for these two cousins and goodness and happiness will follow them and their families for decades to come. When they have their own grandchildren, it will be a fine story to relate of the love of two men who cared enough for one to save the other one. Beautiful stories like this cannot be made up; they are too spiritually and excellent to be written up as a thought.

A thought of better health, happier families, decent people and a rainbow of life to be spread with all its lustrous colors of joy and peace is now.

Blessed are people like Yossi the donor and Harry the beneficiary for they are peacemakers who are the Children of God.

 

 

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Aberdeen