Fe’ofa’aki Helotu "Lotu" Kofe, 58, was just 19 when she was told her kidneys were failing. One of her brothers would prove to be a perfect donor match. Video / Alex Burton
At 19 years old, Fe’ofa’aki Helotu Kofe was told her kidneys were failing and she was facing death.
One of her brothers, who was a 20-year-old university student at the time, was a compatible match and donated a kidney that lasted 37 years.
Kofe, now on dialysis, shares her story to inspire those in the Pacific community to talk about the importance of organ donation, which is often a taboo subject.
Fe’ofa’aki Helotu Kofe was a happy young woman growing up in the Pacific Islands when her world suddenly turned upside down.
“I was 19 years old when I came to New Zealand from Tonga. I had my 20th birthday on dialysis.”
Her kidneys were failing and she required dialysis - being hooked up to a machine that removes the blood from her body and filters it through an artificial kidney (dialyser) before returning it.
The now 58-year-old recalls the moment she was told by doctors her kidneys were failing and there was nothing they could do for her.
Fe’ofa’aki Helotu Kofe, aged 23, dressed in traditional Tongan wear ahead of a special dance. Photo / Supplied
“They took me to hospital and ran some tests - that’s when we found out my kidneys were failing. In Tonga, there was nothing for that. [The only option] was to go overseas or stay home and die.”
Kofe’s family called a meeting with their local church, which raised money to bring their teenage daughter to New Zealand in search of treatment.
By the time she arrived here, the prognosis was looking more grim.
Lotu Kofe, 58, says without her brother's kidney, she would not have been able to live the life she has had. Photo / Alex Burton
“They ran some tests again and they said I only had six months to live if I don’t go on dialysis. And we found out that if I went on dialysis, we’d have to pay every time because I was not a Kiwi citizen.”
Again, the family reached out for help from their congregation at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon church) - and again, they answered; agreeing to pay thousands of dollars for the young woman’s dialysis sessions.
A brother’s love - and a rare gift
The best solution was to find a kidney donor, they were told. Kofe’s parents and eldest brother were all tested but were proven to be incompatible. It would be another brother who would be dubbed her lifesaver.
Viliami Vea and Lotu Kofe pictured after the successful kidney transplant operation in 1987. Photo / Supplied
“I was on dialysis for three months before my brother came. The doctor said everything was the same as me - everything was a match. They asked him if he wanted to give me one of his kidneys and he said ‘yes’.”
Kofe talks about the mental struggle her parents faced at the time, given her donor brother, Viliami Vea, was only a year older than her.
“So he was still young too. If we both died on the operating table, then there was no use doing it.”
In September, 1987, Dr John Collins carried out the operation in Auckland, paid for again by the church. It is understood the siblings were among the first Pacific live donor transplant patients in New Zealand at the time.
Sitting in her lounge in South Auckland, this week, Kofe is now a proud mother of one and a grandma of six. Her husband, Heneli Ahoafi Kata, died when their daughter was still in primary school and the pair moved to Australia for some time.
Helotu Kofe and her husband Heneli Ahoafi Kata on their wedding day. Photo / Supplied
Kofe started dialysis this year after the transplanted kidney that saved her life started to give up. She gets weekly treatments at a community dialysis unit at the Māngere Town Centre run by the Kidney Society, funded by Te Whatu Ora, and is also supported by the society.
Each session is physically draining, she says, and she prioritises rest more these days. Despite her situation, she is grateful for the life she has lived.
“I got married and was blessed with a daughter. I got to work and have a life. Thirty-seven years is a long time and I’m grateful for that.”
Kofe wants more people, particularly in the Pasifika community, to talk about the importance of organ donation and transplants - topics that are often seen as taboo in Pacific cultures.
She calls the kidney from her brother a rare gift she never took for granted.
‘No regrets’
Her brother, Viliami Vea, is now a 59-year-old father of two living with his wife and family in Victoria, Australia. He, too, has lived a full life and continues to serve others in his role as a wellbeing officer for Pacific seasonal workers.
Speaking to the Herald, he becomes emotional thinking back to the time. He had been studying at Brigham Young University, in Hawaii, when he came home to find a lettergram from a Dr Collins from New Zealand.
“The lettergram said: ‘If you are the brother of Fe’ofa’aki Helotu, she is dying in New Zealand because of kidney failure’. I dropped my books and went straight to the medical centre to get tested ... it came back as compatible.”
South Auckland resident Lotu Kofe, now 58, and her brother Viliami Vea, who donated one of his kidneys for her in 1987. Photo / Supplied
He was soon on a flight to Tonga and then Auckland.
“When I got to Auckland Hospital, I saw her sitting on the chair looking pale. I could feel her pain,” he said, becoming emotional.
“I kissed her and said: ‘Where’s Dr Collins’? I told him: ‘I flew here to do the transplant’. He took me to the office and tried to explain all the side effects and I said: ‘No, I want the form. Show me where to sign’.”
Vea reveals the kidney he has is now also failing and there will come a time when he will require dialysis also.
“From then to now, I don’t regret it a bit; even though I face some pain now. The kidney I have now won’t last that long. It will take its course too.
“But what I did for my sister was beyond that. She got married, I saw her pregnant with her only daughter and now she has six grandchildren. I can imagine a generation of people after that, just because of that one sacrifice.”
The siblings have not seen each other in several years, but Kofe cannot speak highly enough of him.
“Without the kidney my brother gave me, I wouldn’t be here today.”
In New Zealand, one in 10 people have kidney disease and approximately 3000 people live on dialysis, according to the Kidney Society.
Chief executive Kath Eastwood said the dialysing population in New Zealand is not decreasing, so delivering services closer to the homes of patients was one of the ways they were helping.
“That is only a small part of what we do. Social work support, wellness programmes and health education are our critical services.
“Our approach is very holistic and whānau-focused. We don’t talk just to the person with the condition. We know it has such a bigger impact than that - so it is really a family-approach to care.”
Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald’s Talanoa section, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and won the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.
