The gift of life.

There are a lot of special gifts that a person can give or receive. But nothing beats the gift of life.

Anzor Tsaie, a Verizon Business Account Manager in Los Angeles, knows this better than most. His sister, Seepsa Tsaie, battled health problems for years. When her kidney began to fail, she was put on a waiting list for a transplant, and her family worried she might not be able to wait three or four years for her name to be called.

Knowing that transplants have a higher success rate if they come from a family member, and that, as a healthy young person, he was a great candidate to be a donor, Anzor volunteered. “Honestly, it was a tough decision. We didn’t have an alternative,” Anzor recalled. “I didn’t want the decision to fall to any of my other family members. I needed to step up.”

Anzor’s Verizon teammates jumped in to help while he underwent and recovered from the surgery. “The support was tremendous,” he said. “I didn’t have to worry about anything else. I was able to focus on the transplant. It definitely gave me peace of mind.”

The surgery was a success. Today, both Anzor and Seepsa are thriving. “She’s up and running, almost back to her normal life,” Anzor said. “It’s a night-and-day difference. She has so much energy now.”

Anzor’s life has also changed, now that he has only one kidney. “It’s a bit of an adjustment. I have to watch my diet and how much sugar I eat.” Meanwhile, he’s enjoying being back at work full time. “There has been so much love since I got back. Everyone has been so nice and so accommodating. My transition has been so easy.”

The V team thanks and celebrates Anzor for being an incredible role model, and for truly living the Credo.

“It’s been a life-changing experience for me,” Anzor said. “It definitely made me grow as a person and appreciate things a lot more. You don’t know the impact you can have on someone’s life.”

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