Good Hearts run in the family

The son of Hollywood actor Mel Gibson today donated $50,000 to the Kidney Foundation of Fiji (KFOF) on behalf of his parents.

“He told me his family loves Fiji,” Foundation Secretary Bernadette Rounds-Ganilau said about Milo Gibson’s donation.

The director of "The Passion of the Christ" and star of the "Mad Max" films owns 5,411-acre Mago Island in Fiji’s Lau Group, which he purchased from Japan's Tokyu Corp. for about US$15 million.

Rounds-Ganilau said she was approached a number of years ago by the Gibson family's Fiji manager, Martin Livingston, who informed her that the family was interested in donating a dialysis machine to the Foundation.

The Fiji Dialysis Centre at the CWM Hospital has seven dialysing stations, and with all machines and peripherals compatible with each other.

She said the Gibson donation comes at a time when consumables for the first quarter of 2009 are being ordered and paid for in advance.

"We are immensely grateful for the donation and opportune timing,” said Rounds-Ganilau.

Rounds-Ganilau said the Haemodialysis is an expensive life saving treatment but necessary for the growing number of patients with end stage kidney disease in Fiji.

She said the KFOF hopes to mount an intensive prevention programme in the community within the next few months.

“The Interim government has expressed the hope that the KFOF would be able to set up other dialysis centres in the north and west of Fiji in the years to come,” she said.