[Music]
you can hear me yeah I’m a New Yorker
sometimes I don’t need a mic so this is
strange for me so my favorite Lebanese
saying is yalla Habibi I’m the only one
in the Bronx that goes around saying
yalla Habibi
so yalla Habibi you feel alive seriously
do you feel alive right every morning we
wake up searching for what our purpose
is right maybe we argue with ourselves
we want to change every single morning
why am I here what am I to do right what
is my purpose you see we don’t just have
one purpose we have many purposes in
life I’m gonna guide you through two
stories of incredible incredible heroism
okay and me waking up one morning saying
my purpose just fell into my lap and it
changed me for ever everything the way
that I look at life everything it’s
about being a living donor and I know
that there are many laws in this country
and in the Middle East and in Asia and
Timbuktu but I want you to forget about
all those laws and I’m going to teach
you two main ways to donate we heard
about it earlier blood one main way if
you haven’t done it go do it okay
because there’s so much of us that we
need to share to the outside world we
can’t just keep it to ourselves we can’t
be greedy right okay so you can be an
adult donor okay or you can be a regular
living donor to an infant Kenya here to
my your right my left okay is a
seemingly normal-looking 30 year old she
woke up one day and both her kidneys
failed so just imagine this I’m gonna be
very wrong this is gonna be very raw
presentation imagine you cannot urinate
for 8 months of your life can you
imagine that we need to drink water
non-stop right
it filters everything but when your
kidneys fail and you’re put on dialysis
if you’re not familiar with dialysis
okay you go in for treatment take your
blood out put new blood in okay for
eight months this young beautiful soul
could not do that three days a week 12
hours a day she sat in a chair bled out
blood in and she struggled looking for a
donor all of her family members went
through the matching process and I’ll
explain that in a second and she matched
with a few of her family members but
because she went through dialysis none
of them could give their kidney to her
because by the time she went in for
dialysis that was it
everyone was opposite of her so what’s
called an organ exchange system okay and
this might differ because there are laws
over here where you can’t do that that
should change that’s her cousin her
beautiful cousin a living donor Leo so
Leo matched okay and when time came for
him to give his kidney to her he was
denied so they went into a kidney
exchange program with 16 other people
okay and it’s completely anonymous at
this point so eight people show up give
their kidney eight people receive the
kidney you don’t know where your kidneys
going to it’s just going to the highest
person that it’s matching so Leo gave
his kidney to someone he didn’t know
beautiful Kenya who received a kidney
from someone she didn’t know because she
had a 70% match rate with that person
the moment that kidney connected to her
urethra she started urinating
immediately so eight months of not to
immediacy that’s incredible and you’re
trying you know maybe you might think to
yourself will this affect me because if
you’re thinking about becoming a living
donor of course you’re gonna have
questions I’m gonna tell you the
questions that I did not have in a
second but some questions can I eat
certain things can I run can I jump can
I swim well here’s a picture of Leo
he loves yoga he’s doing headstand he is
perfectly fine and he’s a hero he’s a
great man for doing what he did so
nothing will happen to you
so let’s talk and here’s Kenya her first
day back exercising was just last week
and she got her kidney back in October
2016 so back to normal life
it’s very easy very very easy so let’s
talk about some taboos let’s talk about
religion before I go into my next story
because the first thing that I thought
when I was sitting down wait does my
religion say I can do this am I not
supposed to do this so many people have
that question during my research and
also organs are huge on the black market
it’s disgusting quite frankly it’s
disgusting that people sell organs not
for 15,000 not for twenty thousand US
dollars they can go upwards of two
hundred and fifty thousand US dollars
that’s terrible
it really is it’s sad but it’s it’s a
fact it’s not a fact in the United
States what is a fact in the United
States that 21 people every single day
die because they do not receive an organ
I know it might be a lot higher over
here but you shouldn’t have to come from
a wealthy lifestyle to go purchase an
organ it should just be there for you to
me that’s the humane aspect of it so
what does religion say every single
religion says the exact same thing that
it’s perfectly fine as long as you’re
not doing any harm to yourself you can
give and how amazing is that to give the
gift of life every religion teaches us
whether you follow religion or not I
don’t care every religion teaches us
that you have to do good to others do
good to your brother and your sister
your neighbor so I’m gonna do everything
in my power to do that so let’s go on to
the next story that’s my nephew that’s
Thomas on your left my right that’s what
he looked like when he was born
and I remember I was working in
Manhattan my family’s in Boston’s about
four hours away and I got a call one
morning from my father
saying pray we don’t know if your sister
is gonna make it or if the baby’s gonna
make it she went in a week before her
scheduled c-section
I have probably 80 plus first cousins
zero kidney donation and kidney disease
in my my family so he was born with a
very rare disease it turned out it
wasn’t her kidneys that were failing was
his so his disease is so rare that mom
has to have this one cell and dad has to
have this one cell and they have to meet
do you know how much sperm goes inside
during the fun time unbelievable but
this one cell in that one cell met each
other okay and so he was born with this
his life expectancy was very very little
okay so he has what’s called Auto Sonoma
or recessive polycystic kidney disease a
word I’ll simplify it what that means
you got two kidneys back here right
hundreds if not thousands of cysts just
protrude and they just keep growing so
you have an infant who just blows up all
around what that hat what happens is it
squashes his lung capacity he can’t
breathe okay
trach goes in almost on life-support if
you will so they remove one kidney six
months after he’s born hoping that that
would help him breathe it didn’t just
kept getting worse and worse and worse
and worse so he has five million ants a
whole bunch on my side a whole bunch on
his dad’s side his mom is my sister and
we sit down and we do what’s called
matching so you sit there and it’s an
open dialogue with the surgeons you ask
whatever questions you want to ask and
you know 45 minutes go through
everybody’s asking their questions
doctors look at me and this is where my
New Yorker side comes out you’ve
probably read bada-bing bada-boom
I really do live by that motto in life
this is the issue this is how we’re
gonna solve it let’s get it done no
questions asked so they came and they
said okay I didn’t even know my blood
type at this point I just said
let’s go let’s test the very first time
that I held him and he looked just like
that over there he opened his highs for
the first time and I looked at him not
knowing what my blood type was what I
was capable of anything of that nature
it’s not so selfish by saying I so much
and I looked at him and I said buddy
nobody’s around and I said buddy I don’t
know how I’m gonna do this but you’re
getting my kidney one way or the other
and then a few months pass the only
people to match or his father and I that
point I figured out I was oh so y’all
need anything I got you covered with
blood so at the eleventh hour
his father was medically disqualified
and that can happen so it was already
scheduled for the transplant I get a
call I’m supposed to go overseas in two
days and I had a wonderful primary care
physician who kept her office open till
9:00 ten o’clock at night and I sat
there and I filled my EKG like four or
five times she’s a great Nigerian doctor
thick Nigerian accent Marty
Tandang how can you calm down with
somebody saying it like that to you
thank God it was an old machine not
connected to the actual computer so they
just ripped up the pages we made it work
okay where there’s a will there’s a way
right I told that kid I was gonna give
it to him so I passed fast forward a few
months that’s the day before he goes in
for surgery it’s incredible incredible
incredible kid taught me so much right
he’s smiling before he goes in so you’re
probably asking yourself you’re such a
big woman it’s okay I am on the big
woman all right and you’re probably you
know wondering how can your kidney fit
in this little man right if you have a
very soft stomach just close your eyes
the kidney on the right is his he had
two of those hundreds of cysts kidney on
the left is mine it’s teeny right
so I hope that I’m gonna keep this up
for a few more seconds I don’t want
anyone suffering no child no person like
Kenya suffering you know we have the
ability to not only change ourselves
but change the lives of others Leo did
not only change the person’s life that
he gave the kidney to but he changed
Kenya’s life if it wasn’t for Leo can
you wouldn’t have gotten the kidney and
the other person wouldn’t have got the
kidney if it wasn’t for me giving the
kidney he wouldn’t be standing there
like this today you know there’s an
incredible book The Alchemist right I
hope that everybody has read that book
if not I hope you go back and you read
it and there’s a quote in there but I’m
gonna rephrase it to myself when we love
okay when you give life and when we love
period we change ourselves on a daily
basis we make ourselves better and
better we not only become heroes we
become the person who changes not just
the little boy’s life but his mom’s life
everyone else’s life our friends lives
so I hope that my talk has inspired you
enough to go donate blood if you can’t
donate a kidney or a piece of liver or
anything that you’ll do something small
and just spread the word thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
you can hear me yeah I’m a New Yorker
sometimes I don’t need a mic so this is
strange for me so my favorite Lebanese
saying is yalla Habibi I’m the only one
in the Bronx that goes around saying
yalla Habibi
so yalla Habibi you feel alive seriously
do you feel alive right every morning we
wake up searching for what our purpose
is right maybe we argue with ourselves
we want to change every single morning
why am I here what am I to do right what
is my purpose you see we don’t just have
one purpose we have many purposes in
life I’m gonna guide you through two
stories of incredible incredible heroism
okay and me waking up one morning saying
my purpose just fell into my lap and it
changed me for ever everything the way
that I look at life everything it’s
about being a living donor and I know
that there are many laws in this country
and in the Middle East and in Asia and
Timbuktu but I want you to forget about
all those laws and I’m going to teach
you two main ways to donate we heard
about it earlier blood one main way if
you haven’t done it go do it okay
because there’s so much of us that we
need to share to the outside world we
can’t just keep it to ourselves we can’t
be greedy right okay so you can be an
adult donor okay or you can be a regular
living donor to an infant Kenya here to
my your right my left okay is a
seemingly normal-looking 30 year old she
woke up one day and both her kidneys
failed so just imagine this I’m gonna be
very wrong this is gonna be very raw
presentation imagine you cannot urinate
for 8 months of your life can you
imagine that we need to drink water
non-stop right
it filters everything but when your
kidneys fail and you’re put on dialysis
if you’re not familiar with dialysis
okay you go in for treatment take your
blood out put new blood in okay for
eight months this young beautiful soul
could not do that three days a week 12
hours a day she sat in a chair bled out
blood in and she struggled looking for a
donor all of her family members went
through the matching process and I’ll
explain that in a second and she matched
with a few of her family members but
because she went through dialysis none
of them could give their kidney to her
because by the time she went in for
dialysis that was it
everyone was opposite of her so what’s
called an organ exchange system okay and
this might differ because there are laws
over here where you can’t do that that
should change that’s her cousin her
beautiful cousin a living donor Leo so
Leo matched okay and when time came for
him to give his kidney to her he was
denied so they went into a kidney
exchange program with 16 other people
okay and it’s completely anonymous at
this point so eight people show up give
their kidney eight people receive the
kidney you don’t know where your kidneys
going to it’s just going to the highest
person that it’s matching so Leo gave
his kidney to someone he didn’t know
beautiful Kenya who received a kidney
from someone she didn’t know because she
had a 70% match rate with that person
the moment that kidney connected to her
urethra she started urinating
immediately so eight months of not to
immediacy that’s incredible and you’re
trying you know maybe you might think to
yourself will this affect me because if
you’re thinking about becoming a living
donor of course you’re gonna have
questions I’m gonna tell you the
questions that I did not have in a
second but some questions can I eat
certain things can I run can I jump can
I swim well here’s a picture of Leo
he loves yoga he’s doing headstand he is
perfectly fine and he’s a hero he’s a
great man for doing what he did so
nothing will happen to you
so let’s talk and here’s Kenya her first
day back exercising was just last week
and she got her kidney back in October
2016 so back to normal life
it’s very easy very very easy so let’s
talk about some taboos let’s talk about
religion before I go into my next story
because the first thing that I thought
when I was sitting down wait does my
religion say I can do this am I not
supposed to do this so many people have
that question during my research and
also organs are huge on the black market
it’s disgusting quite frankly it’s
disgusting that people sell organs not
for 15,000 not for twenty thousand US
dollars they can go upwards of two
hundred and fifty thousand US dollars
that’s terrible
it really is it’s sad but it’s it’s a
fact it’s not a fact in the United
States what is a fact in the United
States that 21 people every single day
die because they do not receive an organ
I know it might be a lot higher over
here but you shouldn’t have to come from
a wealthy lifestyle to go purchase an
organ it should just be there for you to
me that’s the humane aspect of it so
what does religion say every single
religion says the exact same thing that
it’s perfectly fine as long as you’re
not doing any harm to yourself you can
give and how amazing is that to give the
gift of life every religion teaches us
whether you follow religion or not I
don’t care every religion teaches us
that you have to do good to others do
good to your brother and your sister
your neighbor so I’m gonna do everything
in my power to do that so let’s go on to
the next story that’s my nephew that’s
Thomas on your left my right that’s what
he looked like when he was born
and I remember I was working in
Manhattan my family’s in Boston’s about
four hours away and I got a call one
morning from my father
saying pray we don’t know if your sister
is gonna make it or if the baby’s gonna
make it she went in a week before her
scheduled c-section
I have probably 80 plus first cousins
zero kidney donation and kidney disease
in my my family so he was born with a
very rare disease it turned out it
wasn’t her kidneys that were failing was
his so his disease is so rare that mom
has to have this one cell and dad has to
have this one cell and they have to meet
do you know how much sperm goes inside
during the fun time unbelievable but
this one cell in that one cell met each
other okay and so he was born with this
his life expectancy was very very little
okay so he has what’s called Auto Sonoma
or recessive polycystic kidney disease a
word I’ll simplify it what that means
you got two kidneys back here right
hundreds if not thousands of cysts just
protrude and they just keep growing so
you have an infant who just blows up all
around what that hat what happens is it
squashes his lung capacity he can’t
breathe okay
trach goes in almost on life-support if
you will so they remove one kidney six
months after he’s born hoping that that
would help him breathe it didn’t just
kept getting worse and worse and worse
and worse so he has five million ants a
whole bunch on my side a whole bunch on
his dad’s side his mom is my sister and
we sit down and we do what’s called
matching so you sit there and it’s an
open dialogue with the surgeons you ask
whatever questions you want to ask and
you know 45 minutes go through
everybody’s asking their questions
doctors look at me and this is where my
New Yorker side comes out you’ve
probably read bada-bing bada-boom
I really do live by that motto in life
this is the issue this is how we’re
gonna solve it let’s get it done no
questions asked so they came and they
said okay I didn’t even know my blood
type at this point I just said
let’s go let’s test the very first time
that I held him and he looked just like
that over there he opened his highs for
the first time and I looked at him not
knowing what my blood type was what I
was capable of anything of that nature
it’s not so selfish by saying I so much
and I looked at him and I said buddy
nobody’s around and I said buddy I don’t
know how I’m gonna do this but you’re
getting my kidney one way or the other
and then a few months pass the only
people to match or his father and I that
point I figured out I was oh so y’all
need anything I got you covered with
blood so at the eleventh hour
his father was medically disqualified
and that can happen so it was already
scheduled for the transplant I get a
call I’m supposed to go overseas in two
days and I had a wonderful primary care
physician who kept her office open till
9:00 ten o’clock at night and I sat
there and I filled my EKG like four or
five times she’s a great Nigerian doctor
thick Nigerian accent Marty
Tandang how can you calm down with
somebody saying it like that to you
thank God it was an old machine not
connected to the actual computer so they
just ripped up the pages we made it work
okay where there’s a will there’s a way
right I told that kid I was gonna give
it to him so I passed fast forward a few
months that’s the day before he goes in
for surgery it’s incredible incredible
incredible kid taught me so much right
he’s smiling before he goes in so you’re
probably asking yourself you’re such a
big woman it’s okay I am on the big
woman all right and you’re probably you
know wondering how can your kidney fit
in this little man right if you have a
very soft stomach just close your eyes
the kidney on the right is his he had
two of those hundreds of cysts kidney on
the left is mine it’s teeny right
so I hope that I’m gonna keep this up
for a few more seconds I don’t want
anyone suffering no child no person like
Kenya suffering you know we have the
ability to not only change ourselves
but change the lives of others Leo did
not only change the person’s life that
he gave the kidney to but he changed
Kenya’s life if it wasn’t for Leo can
you wouldn’t have gotten the kidney and
the other person wouldn’t have got the
kidney if it wasn’t for me giving the
kidney he wouldn’t be standing there
like this today you know there’s an
incredible book The Alchemist right I
hope that everybody has read that book
if not I hope you go back and you read
it and there’s a quote in there but I’m
gonna rephrase it to myself when we love
okay when you give life and when we love
period we change ourselves on a daily
basis we make ourselves better and
better we not only become heroes we
become the person who changes not just
the little boy’s life but his mom’s life
everyone else’s life our friends lives
so I hope that my talk has inspired you
enough to go donate blood if you can’t
donate a kidney or a piece of liver or
anything that you’ll do something small
and just spread the word thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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