WIZ OF THE BREAVEHEARTS GIVES HIS KIDNEY TO SAVE DAUGHTER

(New York-WABC, November 22, 2007) - A family in Queens has extra reasons to be grateful tonight. A dad and his 5-year-old daughter began the month in the hospital.

But now, both are thriving and the little girl has a new chance at life.

Seven's on call with Dr. Jay Adlersberg.

"I can't pick you up," said father, Micahel Ebbs, to his daughter. "You know that."

Michael Ebbs can't to pick up his daughter Siahra because of his recent surgery. But there's no holding back on the love he has for his little girl.

"You know you love your child but you don't know how deep it is until something like this happens to your family," said Siahra's mother Diana Ayala.

What happened was that Diana and Michael's little girl was very sick.

While now an active and happy child who loves playing with her younger siblings, Siahra was born with a rare kidney abnormality. She lost one kidney when she was 2-year-old, and now was losing the other.

She needed and got a kidney transplant. It came from her dad, Michael.

"It was a no-brainer. My daughter needs it and I'm compatible. I just did it." said kidney transplant donor, Michael Ebbs. "I didn't think twice."

The surgery took place at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell three weeks ago.

One of Michael's kidneys was transplanted into Siahra. Size was not an issue.

"Even in small children like that, we can take an adult kidney and make room inside a small child and have that organ function perfectly," said Dr. Sandy Kapur at NY Presbyterian-Weill Cornell.

Siahra is on medications now and will stay on some the rest of her life. Her new kidney should last 20, maybe 30 years.

Michael, a rap musician known as Wiz, hopes to soon be back to his music.

"So grateful everything is good," said Michael Ebbs.

As for Diana, who would have been splitting her time between dad and Siahara in the hospital and her other children at home, Thanksgiving will be spent with family with someone else doing the cooking.

"We are going to go to my aunt's house and just enjoy the food," said Diana with smile. "I'm still catching up on sleep so no cooking for me maybe Christmas."

There are about 300 children getting kidney transplants this year and not all the donors come from family. Each parent has a fifty percent chance of being a match for their child.

There are, however, some 74,000 adults waiting for donors so they can have a kidney transplant. A wait is typically 5 years, so about 5,000 each year die waiting.