Kiribati man receives a new liver

By Taberannang Korauaba

He opened his eyes and whispered to his wife in a very low voice, ‘where am I?’ Then he lifted his head and began to breathe in fresh air. These are some of the memories of a 45 year old Warkworth resident who underwent surgery in November when his new liver was transplanted. Kabuati Babaua, originally from the South Pacific nation of Kiribati, was having liver problems. His doctors feared that his health conditions were deteriorated leaving them with not much hope.

They advised him that unless he received a new liver he would be dead. A few weeks after he received that word, Kabuati struggled with his memory. “I have come to a point where I don’t know where I was, not even recognised my friends, I was just like a dead man walking. I know I would be dead, and the only thought on my mind is a miracle.” And that miracle happened in November when his long time friend, Martin Robertson also from Warkworth, informed him over the phone that he’s got a donor. “I don’t know what to say, I thought it was a miracle coming from heaven. I wanted to jump, laugh and thank the Lord, I could not find a word to express all my feelings when I heard of a donor,’ he says.

While at the hospital, Mr Babaua knew that the operation could mean life or death. When they injected me, my world was completely shut down. Then ten hours later, I thought I was somewhere, in a different place or different planet. I opened my eyes and whispered to my wife, ‘where am I? He said doctors and nurses looked like ghosts to him and did not want them to come closer. ‘It’s a very scary experience. When doctors and nurses came to check me up, I was so terrified I thought they were going to kill me.
A new liver was transplanted successfully and he spent Christmas and New Year eve at the Auckland city to recuperate. “They treat my husband like one of their own. Nurses never get upset with him, I knew he has been rude and mean to them sometimes, but I never saw them walked away from him,” says Tebwebweiti with tears running down her cheek. Kabuati was discharged on 14 January to his home in Warkworth. “I am recovering now, I have to follow certain strict rules to stay alive.

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When I am fully recovered, I would go back to work for New Zealand to pay up my debts. “I owe much to the doctors and nurses at the Auckland city hospital, and especially to the donor family,” he said. While on his sick bed, Mr Babaua received food parcels and words of encouragement from his friends at the Warkworth Presbyterian and the Catholic church. “I want to tell the world that there are so many good Samaritans in Warkworth, thank you so much,” Tebwebweaiti said, who flew from Kiribati in November last year to accompany Babaua to the hospital during the surgery. Mr Babaua first heard of New Zealand from his wife who accompanied a patient from Kiribati hospital to New Zealand in 2001. “I arranged for Mr Babaua to come to New Zealand. When he arrived here, he lived with another lady.

To be frankly honest, I really hate him, I wanted to kill him, but I have never stopped loving him because he is the father of my children,” Tebwebweati said. “I have now forgiven him and I thank everyone assisting my husband in so many different ways,” she said. Tebwebweiti is a nurse in Kiribati and took her leave to be with her husband on his sick bed, they have been separated for eight years now. Martin Robertson says he first came into contact with Mr Babaua a few years ago when he helped him with his residence application. Last year, he was told that he was very sick and offered to help him with his application for a new accommodation and assistance from work and income.

Mr Babaua finds Martin to be a good company with lots of funs and jokes to share with. “I think he has a Kiwi sense of humor,” that helped Mr Babaua to recover. Mr Babaua migrated to New Zealand in 2002 and four months later he’s got a job with Southern Paprika Limited, the same horticulture business he worked for until he resigned in 2008 after his health conditions were getting worse. He’s getting better now and the only thing he’s going to decide on is whether to reunite with his Kiribati wife.

ENDS

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