Vasin tells of kidney donation to brother
The Jewish Shorts report told how Maccabi NSW CEO Mick Vasin donated one of his kidneys to save his brother’s life. Odile Faludi dives more deeply into the story…
For the first time in five years, Mick Vasin, CEO of Maccabi NSW, broke his silence on Sunday night and spoke candidly about donating his kidney to his brother. It was a wonderful function organised by Academy BJE and Jewish House. The evening was titled Jewish Shorts, basically short stories with each presenter taking ten minutes to present. For those of us in the audience it was a compelling and moving story beautifully told by a very honest and decent man. Without a doubt, Mick saved his brother, Maurice’s life. In 2003, it was evident that Maurice was in real trouble and Mick vividly recalls, “He was on dialysis and struggling”. Of course, amongst the family there was always discussion who might give Maurice a kidney and Mick always knew he would say yes should the need arise and should he be the perfect match. Interestingly, Maurice is a half brother as they have different fathers. Mick told us, “If no one has ever been to St Vincent’s hospital and walked through the renal unit – then you really can’t understand how easy it was to make my decision. To see one’s flesh and blood lying there – hooked up to a machine – living only but for the grace of this technology and knowing you can help by giving up something you can do without – it just didn’t seem like there was an alternative.”
Bear in mind, Mick and his wife Rachel, had three very young daughters, but still it was not a hard decision for Mick to make, he confesses. Maccabi News is pleased to report that Maurice has been thriving and is healthy and in Mick’s words, “Maurice’s new kidney took to him like a duck to water and has been working beautifully ever since.” The upside for Mick was that he lost 15 kilos and both he and Maurice are well and healthy. Mick finished up by saying, “They say Karma will come one day and reward me for what I have done and in some ways I got immediate Karma. All three teams that year that I dearly love The West Tigers in the NRL, the Swans and Maccabi Hakoah all won their grand finals – it doesn’t get any better.” For the Maccabi NSW Executive members who were in the audience it only confirmed to them what they always knew. Mick is a great friend, a great person and definitely a great Mensch!
Well done Mick, a real act of kindness that should be an inspiration to many people.
Chag Sameach to you & family
barry Smorgon