Welsh rugby star Taulupe Faletau has launched a fundraiser on gofundme, [2] to raise money for his critically-ill cousin Amanaki Taimi (21) – who is diagnosed with kidney failure.

“As a family we are trying to raise funds for My cousin Amanaki who has kidney failure”, Taulupe stated on his gofundme page.

According to Taulupe, Amanaki is currently being treated in New Zealand but is exempted from New Zealand’s healthcare support system because he is a non-resident and owes over $100,000 (NZD) to the New Zealand Health Board. To complicate matters even further, visa applications lodged by Amanaki and his mother, have been rejected by New Zealand Immigration because of the debt.

Taulupe stated “The main priority is to get his visa application approved as if he were to become a permanent resident of NZ his dialysis would become free,

“The problem now is that his Visa application has been placed on hold because of a few conditions that need to be fulfilled. The advice from his council is that the main one is a lump sum should be paid off the health bill of what he now owes to show the immigration board than Amanaki has support and won’t be a “burden” to the NZ taxpayer.”

“To say the least It has been a very hard, sometimes helpless 3 years for Amanaki and his Mother Lia who have been separated from the rest of their family who are still in Tonga, trying to deal with mounting debt and worrying about the status of their application.”

“If their application is denied and Amanaki is deported to Tonga it would be less than a matter of weeks before his illness took his life.”

Kidney Dialysis Centre

Taulupe noted the fact that Tonga did not have a Kidney Dialysis centre to support Tongans suffering from Kidney disease.

“Our home country of Tonga doesn’t have a dialysis centre as the cost of maintaining this would be 20% of Tonga’s whole healthcare budget while only 1% of residents would benefit from its use. So while this is understandable it is heartbreaking for the 1% who desperately need treatment. Without dialysis a kidney failure patient would likely die within a few weeks.”