Help save Mo Farzan, former Afghan interpreter

Our dear friend Mokish Farzan is nearing end-stage kidney failure and is in need of a kidney transplant in the next few months.

 

For those who don’t know him, let us take a moment to introduce this remarkable young man. Mo is 29 years old and is a native of Afghanistan. At the age of 16, he left home to attend a school of English. After finishing at the top of his class, he parlayed his new skills — and existing fluency in Farsi, Pashto, Uzbek and (later) Turkish — into work with the U.S. Army and U.S. Marines as a linguist and cultural adviser.

 

For several dangerous years, Mo accompanied American troops and other coalition forces in their daily work, including combat missions, garnering numerous commendations. But as his identity became known to the Taliban, he began to have escalating threats to his life. Ultimately, his American service-mates secured a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) so he could escape to the US. With a large extended family relying on him, Mo left reluctantly, arriving in North Dakota in December 2015.

 

Shortly after he moved to Seattle where — amid the pandemic — he’s struggled to make ends meet, working jobs as a security guard, ride-share driver, delivery person, and tech support worker (every month sending money back to family in Afghanistan). He’s also been attending Seattle Central College, pursuing an associate degree in computer science, with hopes of one day working at a company like Microsoft. Based on his strong academic performance, the Seattle Colleges Foundation awarded him a coveted scholarship in Fall 2021, and featured him in a virtual celebration of the year’s winners.

 

 

 

 

The end of last year was a bittersweet time for Mo. In December, he achieved his dream of becoming a U.S. citizen and carrying a U.S. passport.

 

Unfortunately, around the same time, Mo was experiencing excruciating headaches. After considerable testing at the University of Washington Medical Center, he was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of an auto-immune disease — IGA Nephropathy (also known as Berger’s Disease.) At the time of his initial diagnosis, Mo had 30% function remaining in his kidneys. Now, just a few months later, he has only 17% remaining kidney function.

 

Mo will need to obtain a kidney transplant within the next few months or begin dialysis. Unfortunately, transplants are not as effective or long-lasting for patients who have to undergo dialysis and later obtain a kidney. The current waitlist at the Center if we do not find a donor is approximately 3-5 years. So, we are actively trying to find a donor for Mo.

 

SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

 

Well, most importantly, please put out the word. Please share this site on your social media platforms and/or forward to your email list. We know it’s a huge ask, but if someone wants the opportunity to engage in the ultimate act of altruism — donating a vital organ — this is certainly it.

 

They can contact one of us. Or they can contact UW Medicine’s Living Donor Program (where Mo will be on the transplant registry) at 206/598.3627 . As the Center notes , donors will not see a change in life expectancy and extremely rarely will experience any type of negative effect on lifestyle.

 

Another way to help: contribute money. As Mo’s health status declines, so does his ability to work. We want to make sure he’s not further burdened by financial worries in the stressful months ahead. We’re setting a starting goal of $15,000.

 

WHO WE ARE

 

John Erlick is a retired King County Superior Court Judge and Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of Law. I met Mo when he was seeking to volunteer as an interpreter in my court. We became friends, and I later rented him a room in a house I own.

 

Michael Beneke is Communications Director for the Seattle Colleges Foundation, which awarded Mo one of its 2021-22 scholarships. I became friends with Mo in the course of filming the video above.

 

As anyone who knows him will attest, Mo is an amazing human: warm, outgoing, hilarious, and brilliant. And also a singer (he’d hoped to go on Afghanistan’s version of America’s Got Talent). Check this out: