Ahram Hebdo
Issue 711
http://hebdo.ahram.org.eg/arab/ahram/2008/4/23/soci0.htm#haut
(translated from French by Google Translation with some corrections by me :) )
Unusual. Thanks to his many blood donations, a total of 7 000 litres in twenty years, Yéhia Hassan, a butcher in Fayoum, has saved many lives without taking a penny. Portrait of an unusual man.
The Superman of Fayoum
Everybody knows him and his phone number is listed in all indexes as his reputation has exceeded the boundaries of his village.
He is nicknamed the mobile blood bank, the inexhaustible well, pumping station, and even the superman of Fayoum. Indeed, Yéhia Hassan is not a blood donor like any other. In twenty years, he has donated 7 000 litres. Hospitals and clinics located in the Fayoum governorate often call him in case of need. Day and night he does not hesitate to move to rescue a sick or injured. A native of Défnou, a hamlet dependent on the Etsa Fayoum, Yéhia, 45, is a street butcher who makes his living from day to day. With a blood group O positive, thus universal donor, he saved thousands of lives.
It all began in 1981, when he was caught by hot flushes, a terrible headache and began to bleed heavily from the nose. Mal point, Yéhia went to the clinic to stop the bleeding. The doctor who saw him did not understand what is happening to him and referred him to the hospital in Fayoum, where another specialist yet decided to further send him to the Qasr Al-Aïni in Cairo, a hospital under the Ministry of Health. This is where specialists will see that Yéhia is a rare species. "Yéhia doesn’t not suffer from any disease, but has a remarkable flow of blood. A capacity that exceeds 90 times normal. Moreover, his cells recover quickly substances in the blood such as plasma, white and red blood cells and platelets. To feel fit, he should just get rid of his blood, "says Dr. Moëness Al-Melligui, a doctor at the hospital Etsa.
In fact, it’s Yéhia himself who found that out. One day, a serious accident has happened on the road to his village. People have been mobilized to donate their blood to rescue the wounded and Yéhia was part of that group. Upon leaving the hospital, he realises that he is in very good shape. "It's as if I had just lost some weight. The chills had disappeared, including the symptoms that I felt when I worked hard, "he says. And to feel fit, Yéhia understood what is needed to be done. If a normal donor has to spend three months between blood donations, Yehia can afford to donate a litre per day except Thursday and Friday where he decided to rest his body.
A loaded agenda
His everyday life is full of contingencies. He can receive at any time of day a phone call and move from one governorate to another to rescue a person in danger of death. And there’s no lack of cases. Haemorrhage during childbirth, abortion, hypotension, anaemia and traffic accidents. At 8 am, he goes to the clinic Défnou to ensure that nobody needs his blood, and then proceeded to the hospital Etsa and Sennourès where he also peak, and even hospitals of Ebcheway and Fayoum. "24/24, I am available to everyone. It may be that I find myself in Fayoum in the morning and evening at Beni Souef or Assiut. Everything depends on the circumstances. My wife and my five children never know where I am. During 20 years of donation, I realized how a drop of blood could be valuable, "he said, while thanking God for his blessing. He tells the story of two sisters, aged respectively 8 and 10 years suffering from haemophilia. The girls who he saved their lives at several occasions by giving them once a week a quantity of his blood until they are cured. "My blood is used as a substitute for bleeding caused by childbirth, surgery or in cases of people whose blood does not clot," explains Yéhia.
He added: "When I visit the Heart Centre in Imbaba or cancer centre in Qasr Al-Aïni, I can see how someone's life may depend on a donor. People are afraid to give a half-liter of blood. Ignorance, lack of awareness and fear of being contaminated hinder people, "he says. Yéhia relate an anecdote about this. That a husband who has left quietly to avoid giving blood to his wife, who has just she given birth to their first baby.
Among the memorable dates, Yéhia remembers the earthquake which took place in October 1992 and whose epicenter was in Fayoum. The number of injured was so considerable that this mastodon made the hospital his home to be available at any time. He jokes by saying: "There are a lot of my blood that flows through the veins of people in my village."
Yéhia, with his huge body and massive stature, doesn’t see a superman in himself. He eats normally and smokes a lot. With a robust body, he is able to raise a car, break a wall with his hands. And therefore a needle stick is a caress for him, even if this gesture is repeated every day. Dressed in a galabiya, rolled up sleeves Yéhia monitors the flow of blood to be filling the bag. It has has just filled the second and worn like a charm.
He says he never sold his blood despite the insistence of some private hospitals, but wished to donate his blood only to public hospitals in principle. "It's a gift from God that I can’t exchange with money. The blood that I give is a zaqat for my health. " The butcher simulating a rugby player does not even own land, although he could have made a lot of money. By way of thanks, the Ministry of Health, laboratories and hospitals have issued certificates of reward. A recognition that does not help Yéhia in supporting his family. Only the Ministry of Agriculture offered him a few feddans, a small parcel under ‘Project Mubarak’ for young graduates. A land he cultivates and allowing them to make ends meet. And even if Yéhia expects nothing from any person, he is disappointed with the behaviour of officials who are unaware of his existence and does not help financially. But his dream is to appear in the Guinness Record, which is why he wished to recover after each blood donation a receipt allowing him to count and record the number of liters given by him during his life. "The only person in the world contained in this book is an African who has donated 6 000 litres. I have exceeded this figure and have done better, "concludes Yéhia with great pride.
