Going home now a death sentence
A young man in $100,000 of debt due to kidney failure has hope for the future – thanks to his cousin, a famous rugby player.
Amanaki Taimi was only 19 years old when he found out his kidneys were failing.
He and his mother were forced to leave their home and family in Tonga, where dialysis is not available, and move to Auckland so he could undergo treatment.
As Taimi is not a New Zealand resident, dialysis costs about $6000 each month and the bills are racking up for his family.
His cousin, Welsh international rugby player Taulupe Faletau, has started a Gofundme page to raise funds to keep the treatment going.
Faletau described the past three years as being ‘‘a very hard and sometimes helpless time’’ for Taimi and his mother.
‘‘They have been separated from the rest of their family who are still in Tonga, trying to deal with mounting debt and worrying about the status of their application,’’ Faletau said on the Gofundme page.
‘‘If Amanaki is deported to Tonga it would be less than a matter of weeks before his illness took his life.’’
International players who have donated include England prop Mako Vunipola, who grew up with the Wales back row in Pontypool, Welsh internationals Cory Hill and Hallam Amos, and Faletau’s Bath team-mates, Anthony Watson and Charlie Ewels. The family said its main goal was to have Taimi’s visa application approved so his dialysis would be funded, giving the family time to focus on paying the debt. If he was granted residency he would also be eligible to go on the list to receive a kidney transplant. Taimi’s visa application is currently on hold because of a few conditions that need to be fulfilled – including paying off his debt in one lump sum to show Immigration NZ he wouldn’t be a ‘‘burden’’ on the country.
Only then could the application be re-lodged.
Dialysis is not available in Tonga as the cost of providing it would take 20 per cent of the country’s healthcare budget.
Dr Gerhard Sundhorn, a public health researcher at Auckland University, said if Taimi was deported he would not have a very good prognosis.
‘‘Going back to Tonga would lead to death; those with renal failure need dialysis to live.’’
Sundhorn said there were about 60 patients in Tonga with renal failure per year and type 2 diabetes was one of the most common causes. The Tongan Government had been looking at establishing a dialysis centre, he said. ‘‘The resourcing that would be needed to keep a centre like that going would be very difficult for Tonga.’’