Malik's Kidney Transplant Surgery

This is Malik, my brother in law (Wife's brother).

This was the initial report when he reached Kabul on 4/06/17.


Me after my kidney donation on Feb 24, 2012 at NYP Columbia in NYC. Surgeon was Dr. Lloyd E. Ratner.

This is my wife and I, right after surgery in Feb. 2012 and then at my sister's wedding in Nov. 2015.


I am a kidney donor in New York City and now need help saving another life from rapid kidney failure: the life of my 17 year old brother in law in Afghanistan, Malik (my wife's younger brother), and have just a few days left to try. (I'm the one giving the thumbs up after my donation)

Malik has 2 other brothers that are matched donors (Type O blood group) but there are no facilities in Afghanistan for the kidney transplant and not enough funds to do it in India, the nearest possible facility. We do have a great contact and hospital lined up to do the surgery but he and family would need to stay there for 4 months after to monitor post-transplant for organ rejection, additional procedures and until the body accepts and stabilizes with the new organ.

Updated: The transplant cost is around $15,000 US dollars with another $15,000 to cover other medical expenses (dialysis, rejections, etc.) over the next 4 months. Then there is cost of living for 4 months on top. With their family selling their car (waiting on sale and receipt of payment) and what we can send from here, we are around $30,000 short and can use the help. It costs over $260,000 for the transplant in the US! I will use my personal funds to help costs over the 4 months he is there but now need the initial cost of surgery and cost for any other complication funded here first. I already wired my own cash $1,200 for 3 emergency issued passports. I am now sending another $2,500 of my personal cash for visas/flights which we are trying to obtain now, and immediate initial dialysis.

Malik has a few days left as his kidney function is down to 10% with only 1 dialysis machine in Kabul. There are over 20 other people in line to use this one machine which they need to be plugged in to for at least 3-4 hours. Once the funds are in place, we can get an emergency medical visa and get the family on a plane and straight to Columbia Asia Hospital in Bangalore with one of the best teams to take care of him. We were originally going to Bombay Hospital but we had faster accommodations here. He is a sweet kid that deserves to grow old.

UPDATE 4-16-17
The brothers reached Bangalore and are in the care of Columbia Asia Hospital. I am already getting bills and have wired my own funds and will now start to dip into the campaign funds to pay for pre-op workup which is around 3K.

My name is Masoud Mukhtarzad though most people know me from my business/artist name, Ray Thomas. My story, which can be verified, is that my wife needed a kidney transplant and had 0+ blood type. I was not a match and she had an 8 year waiting period to be on the registry to receive one with only a couple years left max. I put my kidney in the swap program and finally there was a match with a 10 person swap.

Our transplant happened at New York Presbyterian Columbia on Feb 23, 2012. My wife’s doctor is Dr. Andrew Bomback. The head of the research team there, Dr. Ali Gharavi,  has found the mutated gene that runs in my wife’s family.

My wife has since led a very healthy and happy life the past 5 years and we wish the same for her 17 year old brother. Please help if you can, even if it’s sharing this with your friends and family.

I will be responsible for withdrawing the funds and setting up an account for funds to pay the hospital fees and everything else involved in the 4 month process. I'm already paying out of pocket to pay for travel and other expenses to get to India. When this campaign reaches the 14/15K mark, I will give the hospital the go ahead to do the operation and whatever else comes in, will be to pay for all the other medical expenses. I will wire the money (or however else the hospital sets up for us to make payments) to the hospital and get receipts with details of the cost which  I will then share here. The same goes for every other medical cost after the surgery, medication costs, living for 4 months, etc. 

Warm regards,

Masoud