Midori’s Fund to assist other kidney patients

THE trust fund created to raise funds for Midori Kamies, the young kidney patient who died last Monday, will remain open to help other young people in need of dialysis.

Midori (18), a State patient, died on her birthday on December 14, following several futile attempts to get the treatment she needed. Not having medical aid, Midori’s family could not afford the dialysis treatment their child so desperately needed. A dialysis machine filters blood externally in the same way a kidney would do inside the body. The State hospitals simply said they couldn’t do anything for the girl, despite officials at the Ministry of Health confirming that the Windhoek Central State Hospital has dialysis machines.During Midori’s three-week stay in the same hospital in late October and early November, she was never given dialysis treatment despite the fact that her only remaining kidney was failing. The other kidney had been removed 14 years ago.Midori’s family created the fund to raise money for dialysis at a private facility.Her aunt, Carla Morkel, last week told The Namibian that the family had decided to keep the trust going in memory of Midori.’There are many other people with renal failure or kidney problems that need to be on dialysis, but who don’t have medical aid to access such care,’ Morkel said.’We could not save Midori as we struggled to set up the trust fund that would have enabled her to undergo treatment, but we are positive that we could make a difference in the lives of others,’ another family member said.The fund was created just days before Midori’s death, and according to the family, the process had been delayed by the State’s reluctance to provide a letter that would allow the speedy establishment of the fund. It was eventually established without the letter, and Midori’s relatives say that ‘when we got all the information together, people were ready and eager to help, but then it was too late’.Morkel said the family planned to place the fund in the hands of a company or organisation that could administer it.Donations to the fund can be deposited into the following account:Midori Marion Kamies FundStandard Bank, Walvis BayBranch Code: 082272Account No.: 241121205A final memorial service will be held for Midori tomorrow evening at her family’s home on Van Harte Straat in Narraville, Walvis Bay, while the funeral service will start the same address at 09h00 on Wednesday, before proceeding to the New Apostolic Church in Narraville.nangula@namibian.com.na