Son tricks mother into transplant after pretending to sell his kidney on ebay
London: A Pakistani-origin man, whose mother was on dialysis but would not let him donate his kidney, tricked her in to the transplant - by pretending he was already selling his organ on eBay.
Imran Najeeb, 34, had offered his mother Zainab Begum a kidney after her own suffered damage and were only functioning at 25 per cent. But she refused because she did not want him to put his own life "at risk" by helping her.
The clever bank manager, who is one of six siblings and is the eldest son, then told his mother he was already donating his kidney anyway, and was selling it on the auction site. He took advantage of the fact that his mother cannot read or write English and showed her a picture of a kidney on Google Images, telling her it was his kidney for sale, the Mirror reported. He told her: "Look mum, I'm selling my kidney on eBay and someone from China is going to pay me 10,000 pounds for it."
His tactic worked when his 52-year-old mother replied: "Why would you sell your kidney to a complete stranger when you could give it to me?" Najeeb said: "That was the moment of truth. It was through anger her true emotions came out. I realised she did want my kidney and it was just concern for me that was stopping her. "As a child, you sometimes have to play your parents. I had to do this to trick her into accepting my kidney as I was just so desperate to help her."
The family's ordeal began around eight years ago when Najeeb's mother began feeling ill, lost weight and started suffering from headaches and high blood pressure. Tests showed she had kidney damage and were only functioning at 25 per cent.
She ended up on haemodialysis at hospital three or four times a week and the grandmother of 13 lost out on quality time with her family. Najeeb, from Blackburn, Lancashire, recalls: "Dialysis was physically and emotionally draining for my mum. "Although my mum initially agreed, she then changed her mind and told me she didn't want to take my kidney. "
She said if anything happened to me, she would never forgive herself. We were both trying to be selfless but I desperately wanted to donate to her. I even asked the doctors if I could donate anonymously without my mum knowing but they told me they couldn't legally do this."
However, it was when Najeeb overheard his mother talking to his cousin in Pakistan on the phone and discussing the possibility of buying a kidney and having the transplant abroad, he thought he had to trick her so that she agrees. The mother and son have now undergone their respective operations and are recovering well.
