Benefit Dinner Planned for Dearborn Man in Need of Kidney Transplant

Mohamed Haidar is waiting for the phone call that will change his life.

The 21-year-old Henry Ford Community College student needs a kidney transplant, but finding a donor has been almost impossible. Volunteers are planning a fundraiser to help offset his medical expenses and generate awareness on May 22 at Greenfield Manor.

"It's very critical at this point that we find a donor for Mo," event coordinator Hussein Dabajeh said.

Haidar, a graduate of Star International Academy in Dearborn Heights, has been battling a rare congenital disorder that has progressively affected his kidneys ability to function properly. As a result, he has been required to go through dialysis treatment twice a week for the past five years.

Dabajeh said that while friends and family have offered to donate a kidney, they do not match Haidar's blood type A, or O kidney type.

"Hundreds have tried, but we can't find someone who matches his blood type and other needs," Dabajeh said.

Event organizers are hoping to change that by offering a kidney pair donation program at the fundraiser dinner.

Kidney paired donation is an option for living donor pairs who are not compatible with each other. Previously, people with kidney failure who had an incompatible donor needed to wait for a deceased donor. With kidney paired donation, kidneys can be “exchanged” between pairs, making multiple compatible living donor transplants possible.

"Mohamed pretty much gave up on life until recently, when he started becoming more active at school,"  Dabajeh said. "We want to show him that there’s still hope and push the community to find him a kidney. His family has told him to never give up on hope."

The dinner will take place at 6 p.m. May 22. Tickets are $25. For more information, call Hassina Albana, 313-916-5987, or Pamela McMath, 313-916-3823. For ticket purchases, call Hussein Dabajeh, 313-671-9966, or Fatima Charara, 313-598-9447. Follow the Save Moe Haidar campaign on Twitter at https://twitter.com/savemoehaidar.

On May 31, a blood drive will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Islamic Institute of Knowledge, located at 6345 Schaefer Road in Dearborn.