Turkey has lost its hero

Prof. Dr. Alper Demirbaş, who never lost his world-leading position in organ transplantation,

had also saved his mother's life..

Alper Demirbaş was also his mother's hero.

Last year, he transplanted a kidney he received from his uncle into his mother. It was perhaps the most stressful surgery of his life, but he didn't tell anyone. Turkey's legendary organ transplant surgeon saved his mother's life with a kidney transplant.

He was a true hero. And his hero was Nazım Hikmet!

He lived with the spirit of Nazım, and he fought like Nazım.

He bid farewell to life at the same age Nazım died…

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Sometimes people only realize the value of someone close to them when they lose them.

That person might be a scientist who has made a great contribution to humanity, but you don't see it. Moreover, if that person's soft spot is the close circle you are also a part of, what they do for you can become more important than what they do for humanity.

Thus, you see them as someone in your daily life and may forget the value of what they have done for humanity, the struggle they have given, and the prices they have paid.

That person is ultimately a member of your family (a father, a mother, perhaps a child), a colleague you share a room with at the hospital, a next-door neighbor, or perhaps just a friend…

You realize the value of that person you have normalized only when you lose them one day.

Alper Demirbaş, who isolated himself from the world in a corner of a hospital in Antalya and performed the world's highest number of organ transplant surgeries single-handedly, was exactly such a person. He was a kind of genius, but extremely humble. With over 7,500 kidney and liver transplant surgeries he performed, he never lost his world-leading position.

He was the name who made history by performing the first liver transplant on a 3-year-old child, achieved the firsts that were said to be impossible, and broke new ground in organ transplantation.

He performed Turkey's first "kidney plus pancreas" transplant, and pioneered by performing the first tissue-incompatible kidney transplant and the first blood-type incompatible kidney transplant surgeries.

My path crossed with Alper Demirbaş in 2013. Four of my father's heart vessels were blocked. He needed emergency bypass surgery. I met him on the fourth floor of the hospital where my father was having his bypass surgery. There was a crowd at his door. Mothers, children, the elderly, people of all ages! It said ORGAN TRANSPLANT on the door. I witnessed many miraculous recoveries on the fourth floor of that hospital and I made a promise;

"My father will get better, and I will show Turkey the organ transplant miracle happening in this hospital."

That is how our "NEW LIFE" documentary was born. I witnessed how Organ Transplant Department Head Prof. Dr. Alper Demirbaş and his team worked day and night with great sacrifice to pull people on the edge of life back to life. I went into surgeries.

I can never forget the moment when the kidney our 5-year-old hero Hasan Hüseyin received from his grandmother was transplanted into him. The kidney, which was brought in a bowl of ice, turned bright pink the moment it was transplanted into the little child. That is what the organ transplant world calls "NEW LIFE".

Professor Alper had told me, "reach out your hand." It was to understand whether the kidney transplanted into Hasan Hüseyin was working. I reached out my hand and opened my palm. Urine came from the kidney. Witnessing the miracle of that kidney working was exciting.

Our NEW LIFE documentary met with the public through public screenings in many cities of Turkey. Those who watched our film happily donated their organs at the organ donation desks set up outside the halls. Under the leadership of Professor Alper, we gained 2,000 organ donors for Turkey with our NEW LIFE documentary.

Alper Demirbaş was not only the hero of our NEW LIFE documentary, but the hero of Turkey.

He never stopped from the age of 24, when he stepped into organ transplant surgery, until he was 61. The alchemist of the scalpel never lost his world-leading position. The only day he set aside for himself in the life he dedicated to his patients was Friday. On Fridays, his conversation, adorned with Nazım's poems at a table of friends, was insatiable.

Alper Demirbaş also saved his mother's life.

He transplanted a kidney he received from his uncle into his mother. It was perhaps the most stressful surgery of his life, but he didn't tell anyone. Yet, this story was newsworthy. Turkey's legendary organ transplant surgeon had saved his mother's life with a kidney transplant.

Alper Demirbaş was a true hero. And his hero was Nazım Hikmet!

He lived with the spirit of Nazım, and he fought like Nazım.

He bid farewell to life at the same age Nazım died…

I don't know if Antalya knew the value of Professor Alper.

But thanks to him, it became one of the world's leading organ transplant centers.

I don't know if Turkey knew the value of Professor Alper.

But he carried Turkey to the first place in the world in organ transplantation.

Did his patients know the value of Professor Alper?

Yes.

Even though he did not want an official funeral, his patients who heard of his passing flocked to the funeral ceremony.

Alper Demirbaş;

was the embodiment of the phrase "I would come even if I were in the middle of a crisis."

He was a human being! He touched many lives.

His passing is a great loss for our country.

In memory of the alchemist of the scalpel, Prof. Dr. Alper Demirbaş, for what he did and his contribution to humanity, something must be done…

If not now, when?