Rhekia Fahssi, a 20-year-old SAIT cooking apprentice, will donate one of her kidneys to her father Saad on Dec. 8. "Even though I'm scared, it's going to be so good to have my dad back,” she says. “To see him healthy and free is going to be more than worth it. James Mackenzie Photo

“My dad is the cream of the crop. I mean, he has to be. Otherwise I wouldn’t be giving him my kidney.”
These words come from Rhekia Fahssi, a 20-year-old SAIT cooking apprentice who is scheduled for kidney donation surgery on Dec. 8.
“It’s a pretty major surgery I’m going to be going through, and I’m scared,” Rhekia says. “But when my dad gets this kidney he gets his life back, and that makes it all worth it.”
Rhekia’s father Saad’s health problems began in April 1991 when he drank contaminated water in his home country of Morocco.
When the family returned to Canada, Saad went to the doctor with a swollen ankle. Blood tests revealed both his kidneys were failing, and the Fahssi family began their journey into living with dialysis.
Before Saad got his first donor kidney, he was in and out of the Foothills Hospital for dialysis up to 15 hours a week. “I went at least once a week with him as a kid,” Rhekia says. “I didn’t understand why he had to be hooked up to a machine all the time. I wanted to play with him, but he was attached to like five different IVs.”
When Saad was free of the dialysis machine, he and his daughter went figure skating, swimming, out to movies, and tried to live as normally as possible.
In 1994, Saad received his first organ donation and was able to get off dialysis for a period of time. “They told me the kidney would last five to 10 years, and it lasted me 13,” Saad says. “But a transplant is not a cure; it’s only a therapy.”
Dealing with kidney disease was not the only thing on Saad’s plate. In 1998, he and his wife divorced, and his only daughter went through a period of rebellion.
From 13 to 16, Rhekia’s life was out of control. She slept on people’s couches and spent her time doing drugs with a rough crowd.
“I didn’t have to think about anything in the real world while I was high,” Rhekia says.
But at 16, the self-confessed Daddy’s girl had a drug-induced panic attack and called her dad to come rescue her.
That night, Rhekia moved in with her father. He kept her on a short leash and hired a drug counselor to do in-home therapy sessions with her. After a year of living under her dad’s watchful gaze, Rhekia moved out on her own, drug-free.
“He saved my life,” says Rhekia. “If it weren’t for him stepping in and being there for me, I wouldn’t be here today. The least I can do is give him my kidney in return.”
Rhekia first offered her dad her kidney when she was 16. He refused, saying the risks were too high. At 17, she tried again. He said no.
“As a parent, you never want to find yourself in that position,” Saad says. “It’s supposed to be the other way around. A parent is supposed to do everything they can for their child, but Rhekia’s a really selfless person. She’s been chomping at the bit to do this for me since she was 16.”
When Rhekia turned 19, she went to the hospital, applied to become a living organ donor and began the required testing.
On Father’s Day, she cooked Saad dinner and told him she had a gift for him that he couldn’t have just yet. When she told him she’d begun the donation process, Saad struggled with whether or not he’d let her go through with it.
“I’ve seen kidney transplants before,” he says. “They’re going to cut a chunk out from her belly button to her spine and remove a healthy organ. Her recovery time will take longer than mine, and she will have more of a struggle than me.”
“As a parent, you don’t ever want to see your child in pain and that’s what I’m still struggling with. But when she told me she wants me to walk her down the aisle one day, that’s what put it all in perspective for me.”
Rhekia and her father are a perfect genetic match, and the chances of the transplant being successful are 95 per cent.
Still, there remains a risk that Saad’s body will reject the donor kidney, or that Rhekia might experience complications in her remaining kidney and end up needing a donor kidney herself.
As they prepare for the upcoming surgery, thoughts of a better future keep the fear at bay. “Being on dialysis has taken a lot of time away from my kids, and I’m looking forward to having more freedom,” Saad says.  “If there’s anything I can take from this experience, it’s that I’ve grown a lot closer to my children.”
Rhekia’s recovery time is six weeks and she has time off from work. Her SAIT classes don’t resume until May. If the surgery goes well, Saad and Rhekia plan to return to Morocco in the summer to visit family. “There’s a fear that says I got sick in Morocco so I shouldn’t go back,” Saad says. “But if Rhekia had her way, she’d be living there already,  and you can’t let fear hold you back.”
“Even though I’m scared, it’s going to be so good to have my dad back,” Rhekia says. “To see him healthy and free is going to be more than worth it.”

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