Worcester Brother and Sister Commends Kenyan community for Saving his Life

Geoffrey Muiruri, second right, together with his entire family and friends in the US shortly before leaving for Kenya after a successful Kidney transplant early this year. The family is thanking the Kenyan Community and friends in Worcester who helped raise over $28,000 towards the much needed medical expense. Pic by Family File

By Richard Mutumba, AjabuAfrica.com, posted November 7, 2010

WORCESTER. Mass., _ “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” so goes that English proverb and the exact words that Sister Grace Muchiru of Worcester, Mass. used to thank all those that responded to her emergency call for help to save her ailing brother Geoffrey Muiruri who nearly died from kidney complication.

“I have been blessed with good friends in my life and wish to take this opportunity through AjabuAfrica.com to thank them all for saving Muiruri’s life. Muiruri, 68, has completely recovered after undergoing that sophisticated and costly kidney transplant surgery, all of which was possible because of your financial and spiritual support,” said Muchiru when speaking to Ajabu on telephone from Worcester, Mass. on Wednesday.
 
Muiruri, a native of Karen, Nairobi, came to the United States in 2004 in search of answers to his medical problem. He was suffering from a kidney complication and was in such great pain, according to his sister Muchiru. “To add insult to the injury, Muiruri also had a heart disease,” said the sister.

“My brother is such a very brave man because I would see that he was really in great pain. He had this backache all the time and could not even walk 20 feet sometimes. But he really encouraged me a lot because he would sit there and talk for hours in an attempt to control the pain but I would see that he was in pain,” narrated sister Muchiru.

She said that his brother went through various medical procedures for six years including being on dialysis three times a week as “we were busy looking for a kidney donor.”

Dialysis is a treatment that replaces kidney function when chronic kidney disease progresses to end stage renal disease. When kidney function declines to about 10% to 15% of normal function, dialysis filters the blood of waste and extra fluid for the kidneys.

An estimated 20 million adults in the U.S. have some degree of chronic kidney disease, ranging from stage one kidney disease to stage five kidney failure, requiring dialysis treatment.

Muchiru said $100,000 was needed for the kidney transplant. “I said to myself, where are we going to get all this money?

And as I was thinking about that, the medical team headed by Dr. Shah from Worcester UMass Memorial Medical Centre was testing us to establish whether any one of the relatives can donate the kidney.”

Geoffrey Muiruri and his very supportive sister, Grace Muchiru

“Finally, they established that my brother’s son, Victor Muiruri from Reading, Pennsylvania was a match. Having identified a kidney donor, I was also greeted with more good news that my friends from the churches and other walks of life here in the US and back in Kenya had collected $30,000 to help meet Muiruri’s medical procedure expenses,” said Muchiru.
     
A kidney transplant is a treatment option for people with chronic kidney disease that progresses to end stage renal disease. A person with kidney failure can receive a kidney from either a living donor or a deceased donor. People with kidney disease are not automatically put on a list to receive a kidney transplant. In fact, the number of people waiting for the organs far outnumbers that of donors.

Mr. Muiruri was so lucky that there was a willing donor from his family and one with a match.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, chronic kidney disease includes conditions that damage kidneys and decrease their ability to keep people healthy. If kidney disease gets worse, wastes can build to high levels in your blood and make you feel sick. You may develop complications like high blood pressure, anemia (low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage.

Also, kidney disease increases the risk of having heart and blood vessel disease. These problems may happen slowly over a long period of time. Chronic kidney disease may be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and other disorders. The Foundation advises that early detection and treatment can often keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse. When kidney disease progresses, it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.

According to Ms. Muchiru, the transplant on October 27, 2009 was a success and his brother recovered well and has returned to Kenya.

“Through this big medium AjabuAfrica.com, I would like to thank Dr. Shah from Worcester UMass Memorial Medical Center, Pastor Christopher Kamau of Devine International Ministries – Worcester, Pastors Kennedy Nyaga, Livingstone Mwaura, Peter Nganga of Delaware Pastor Mwaniki and all friends who contributed anything towards Mr. Muiruri’s surgery expenses. Thank you so much.”
 Before he left for Kenya, a jovial looking Muiruri wrote a long letter to thank all those who came to his aid including the gusts of honors.

 “I would like to sincerely thank all the pastors who helped us especially pastor Ben Njuru of Compassionate Fellowship church in Worcester,  all members of the fund raising committee,  guests of honors including, Francis Gachuhi, Prof. Kimenyi form Connecticut, Jospehat Kamiri Muhia from Worcester, Kwasi Sapong and John Attram both from the Ghanaian community in Worcester and my nephews,  Joseph Mbugua and Jimmy Kabui”.

"Thank Ya'll guys for saving my life" , says Geoffrey Muiruri, formerly of Worcester Mass. , and now back to the roots in Nairobi Kenya.

“Good friends are those who make you a better person for having known them, and all my friends are those friends. I am honored to have you all in my life,” said Ms. Muchiru.

She said that if it was not the good hearts of her many friends, Mr. Muiruri would probably not be alive today. “Thank you all and may God bless you.”

  As she spent a lot of her own money and time to take care of her brother for over 4 years, before the community chipped in, Muchiru’s son was blessed with two twin babies in late 2009.

   “We were overjoyed by the arrival of the twins several months before my brother left for Kenya. Thank God he lived to see them”, she said.

 She added that many people have been telling her that the twins were a form of repayment form God for all the work and dedication she did to save her brother’s life.
 
  “It’s a double portion of blessings”, Muchiru told Ajabu Africa.
 to seal the appreciations she feels in style, Muchiru has  invited all the people who helped in the fund raising  of her brother’s medical fund and the general community  to a thanks giving party to be held on Sunday, November 27’th at her house on 41 Windham street, Worcester, 01610  starting at 3pm.

“We welcome you all”, she said with gratitude.

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