ByRosa Doherty, Rosa Doherty
1 min read
ByRosa Doherty, Rosa Doherty
A kosher butcher is recovering well after a transplant operation in which he received a new kidney donated by his son.
Sixty-two-year-old Menachem Haziza, who is well known in the north-west London community as the owner of Menachem's Kosher Butcher and Deli in Golders Green, needed the life-saving operation when his diabetes suddenly worsened.
After attempts to find a match failed, his son Yossi submitted himself to testing without telling his father. Doctors told him he was a perfect match and gave the green light for the operation to go ahead.
On Tuesday both were recovering at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.
Yossi said: "Everything has gone well. The doctors are ecstatic with the operation, and happy with both our progresses, and I feel like a hero.
"I've done the best thing I could. When I saw my dad he said to me 'I couldn't be more proud of you my son'. I told him he gave me life - how I could not help him."
Yossi broke the news that he was going to be his father's donor on a Shabbat morning last month.
He said: "Dad just cried when I told him, he was so glad. As a parent he has done everything you could hope for, so as a son, it is the ultimate mitzvah to help him."
Mr Haziza is expected to be in hospital for a week, while his son hopes to be home in the next few days.
