NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport

All Black star's kidney transplant

Wynne Gray
By Wynne Gray
NZ Herald·
4 Aug, 2015 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Former All Black Joeli Vidiri talks with the Herald after receiving a Kidney transplant recently in Auckland. 03 August 2015 New Zealand Herald Photograph By Greg Bowker

Former All Black Joeli Vidiri talks with the Herald after receiving a Kidney transplant recently in Auckland. 03 August 2015 New Zealand Herald Photograph By Greg Bowker

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Former All Black wing says he is looking forward to getting back to work after getting new kidney

His mega-watt smile could power the Auckland grid and Joeli Vidiri's skin is back to its normal hue.

Returning to work is next on the list for the former All Black wing, two months after his successful kidney transplant to remedy problems which have bitten into his life for the past 15 years.

Vidiri was taken off a transplant waiting list in 2008 because his mother, Alemeci, had concerns but the pair reconciled and in a nice twist she was visiting her son when he got the call in late May.

"I was asleep about three in the morning and mum was there and she heard the phone beep and said I'd better check it," Vidiri said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was my physician and he wanted me there in about two hours at Auckland Hospital."

Vidiri, who has a rare O+ blood type, and a woman who'd been waiting even longer for a transplant, were each to receive a healthy kidney from an unidentified young man.

"It was so good to hear that. Then they said it was from a youngster and I said, 'doc, that's like putting a 2.8 engine in a V8'. The lady took the left kidney and I took the right."

Vidiri was back in recovery after three hours of surgery. He has had a few minor issues but they were sorted and he is feeling stronger every day.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"When I came to, the pain started to kick in but I was pretty sleepy as well," he said.

VIdiri is walking every day. "I feel the cold now, though," he said. "When I was on dialysis, I didn't seem to feel it but that was probably because of all the toxin inside me. My levels were high, about 2500, and now they are at 500 and coming down to the 60 they want them at.

"The kidney is still small but it is growing and it will be able to do more work while my bladder, which used to be like a hard golf ball, is now like a softball and able to work."

12 Sep 1998: Joeli Vidiri of New Zealand in action. Photo / Allsport
12 Sep 1998: Joeli Vidiri of New Zealand in action. Photo / Allsport

Vidiri is 41 and has lost about 12kg to weigh 106kg. He drinks litres of water a day and his diet has changed to more vegetables and soups to continue flushing his system.

Discover more

Rugby World Cup

'The All Blacks are beatable'

03 Aug 09:11 PM
Rugby World Cup

Should All Blacks play their best side?

03 Aug 08:47 PM
Olympics

NZ's Olympic landscape

05 Aug 07:07 PM
Rugby World Cup

We love to hate Australia - Smith

04 Aug 03:27 AM

It's been a choppy journey since 2001 when his kidney problem was discovered. That season, Vidiri thought he might have a show of making the All Blacks' end-of-year tour when new coaches John Mitchell and Robbie Deans took over.

He'd played 61 games for the Blues and was playing for Auckland in the ITM Cup when he felt crook after a game against Bay of Plenty.

"That was the last game I played. I went to hospital and they gave me all these tests and discovered my problem," he said.

Life has been erratic because of those health problems but his old Pukekohe clubmate, Dave Littin, stepped up to build better organisation around Vidiri and hired him to man the floor at his Mitre 10 store.

"I love my job. It kept me going when I was sick," he said.

"I'd wake up and it gave me something to look forward to and keep my mind off the problem. Now I can't wait to get back."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Golf

'Kind of crazy': Fox on his whirlwind season before final major

All Blacks

All Blacks team naming: 10 changes to side to face France

Premium
Black Ferns

Alice Soper: What Black Ferns XV tour reveals about World Cup selections


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

'Kind of crazy': Fox on his whirlwind season before final major
Golf

'Kind of crazy': Fox on his whirlwind season before final major

'It's crazy to think that this is the last major of the year,' the Kiwi golfer says.

17 Jul 01:20 AM
All Blacks team naming: 10 changes to side to face France
All Blacks

All Blacks team naming: 10 changes to side to face France

16 Jul 11:52 PM
Premium
Premium
Alice Soper: What Black Ferns XV tour reveals about World Cup selections
Black Ferns

Alice Soper: What Black Ferns XV tour reveals about World Cup selections

16 Jul 11:32 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP