Lomu: Family's generosity awesome

nzherald.co.nz

Lomu: Family's generosity awesome
4:00AM Tuesday Sep 08, 2009
By Wayne Thompson and David Blake

Jonah Lomu is happy to see 9-year-old Mya Tamatea doing well after receiving a kidney transplant from donor Justine Kereama - the sister of the man who gave Lomu his life-saving kidney.

"She's a lovely young lady, very nice. It's fantastic to see her doing so well."

All Black great Lomu received his kidney from TV and radio personality Grant Kereama five years ago.

Mya, who appeared in the Herald yesterday, had spent two years receiving dialysis treatment at Starship hospital before she was given a kidney by Justine Kereama in February this year.

Justine Kereama and Kath Puohotaua, Mya's mother, grew up together in Wanganui.

"It's awesome," said Lomu, who has met Mya on several occasions.

"It's something that someone has to be freely willing to do and it's great that she [Justine] was willing to do it.

"There's also the irony of it coming from the same family [as Lomu's kidney transplant]."

Lomu says the kidney donation process is "long and arduous".

"It takes months of stringent testing to match blood and tissue types. There's also a psychological test to ensure you are doing it for the right reasons."

Mya and her family have left on an eight-day holiday to Hong Kong Disneyland, arranged by Kidney Kids.

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