Pastor Jonathan Suppaya is 52, but he has the kidney of a 24-year-old. It was a gift from his son.

“I believe that’s the greatest gift he ever gave me,” said Ps Jonathan, who is the Senior Pastor of Jesus Lives Church, a church his own father pioneered.

His medical journey had begun one Sunday in 2023. After preaching a sermon, Ps Jonathan noticed that his legs were swollen.

“My knees were bloated so that they were like a ball. My trousers became so tight around the knees,” he told Salt&Light.

Ps Jonathan had experienced water retention in his legs before, but this was by far the worst occurrence yet. He went to a doctor and was recommended to see a specialist.

Blood tests, X-rays and CT scans were ordered. When the results came in, the news was bad: Stage 3 kidney failure.

“It means that I was getting close to full kidney damage. If nothing was done, I would be gone in six months,” said Ps Jonathan.

Ps Jonathan preaching at his church.

Years of uncontrolled diabetes had damaged both kidneys. Doctors recommended that he undergo dialysis immediately.

“I couldn’t believe the diagnosis. I had always been a very active person, travelling around the world preaching and singing. But I wasn’t angry with God. The question was, ‘How could this happen to me?'”

Dialysis, death or a transplant

Ps Jonathan did not want to be put on dialysis. 

“It would be three times a week, four hours each, plus an hour plugging into the machine and plugging out. That was not how I wanted to live my life,” he said.

There was another option: A kidney transplant. The wait, however, is an average of eight years if the organ comes from a cadaver. Living donor transplants take a much shorter time – six month or less.

Both Ps Jonathan’s parents had passed on. All the family that was left were his wife Kathy, son Johnson and daughter Jovita.

The Suppaya family: (Left to right) Johnson, Kathy, Ps Jonathan and Jovita.

Though he could not bring himself to ask any of them for a kidney, Kathy offered hers. Her blood type, however, turned out to be incompatible with his. Jovita, who was 16 then, did not make the 21-year age requirement to be a donor.

That was when Johnson, then 24, stepped up and said: “I’ll give you my kidney.”

Ps Jonathan was heartbroken: “I couldn’t imagine taking a kidney from my children. They are so young. They have a future ahead of them. I couldn’t accept it.”

Moved by the Spirit  

Months before this, the family had suffered two devastating losses. Kathy’s mother had passed away suddenly.

Johnson and his maternal grandmother.

Not long after, Ps Jonathan’s mother collapsed from a stroke. She never recovered and passed away a few months later.

Her death hit Johnson hard. Not only did it follow the loss of his maternal grandmother so quickly, he was also very close to his paternal grandmother.

Johnson and his paternal grandmother with whom he lived for eight years until her passing.

When his paternal grandfather passed away eight years before, Johnson was the one who had moved in to live with his paternal grandmother. “I wish I could have done more with her, spent more time with her,” said Johnson.

So when the young man received news of his father’s failing health, it felt like “death after death” had descended upon his family.

Johnson works in his church and leads worship.

“My mindset was ‘war’. I was ready to fight. I felt it was the Holy Spirit who led me to this decision to donate my kidney to my dad. So I said ‘yes’ without thinking about what was going to happen to me,” said Johnson.

“I wanted to see my father continue in ministry. There was a strong peace within me that God still had a purpose for my dad to shepherd the flock and lead a new generation in church.”

A step of faith

In the end, Ps Jonathan relented. After some tests, Johnson was found to be a match.

Ps Jonathan said: “My whole church knows Johnson is a person who is afraid of injections. He doesn’t like doctors and hospitals. Yet he offered to go through the whole medical journey with me. I was surprised. Until now, I’m pinching myself to see if it’s true.”

A recent family photo.

As Johnson purposed to give of himself, God made sure he had no lack.

After being informed that his blood type was a match, Joshua 1:9 – “Be strong and courageous” – popped up on his phone.

“Joshua was told to go lead his people across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. Was Joshua afraid? Yes, he was because he was still human. Yet, he took the step of faith. Because of his obedience, he changed people’s life.

“It was like me. Was I afraid? Yes, I was. Yet I still took the step of faith. I accepted it, and it was going to change my father’s life.”

Then came the decision on where to have the transplant. Because Ps Jonathan did not have medical insurance, doing the transplant in Singapore would cost tens of thousands of dollars. So they settled on India instead.

Love in action

In May 2023, father and son travelled to India. Ps Jonathan had to undergo multiple tests to ensure that he was well enough to undergo the major operation.

By the time the day of the transplant dawned, they had already waited some two months.

Ps Jonathan awaiting surgery in India.

Before the operation, Ps Jonathan asked to be put into the same pre-operation room as his son.

“The day of surgery was like a funeral to me because every surgery has risks. I had faith, but I am also human. There was a chance I wasn’t coming out or he wasn’t. I wanted to see him before his act of love,” he said.

Ps Jonathan (second from right) travelled a lot when the children were growing up because of his global ministry.

Johnson, on the other hand, was more than ready for the operation.

“My mind was like, ‘Let’s get this done and move on.’ I had faith that we would make it,” he said. “I had this mindset my mentor told me, ‘If I make it, praise God. If I don’t make it, glory to God because I will be in heaven.’”

In that pre-operation room, father and son held hands, prayed and worshipped together before being wheeled into the operating theatre.

Over the six hours of the operation, their church prayed for them, as did tens of thousands of Christians that were part of Ps Jonathan’s global ministry.

(Left) Urologist Dr Shiva Sankar who operated on Ps Jonathan.

But there was only one thing on his mind when he emerged from surgery.

“The first thing I said was, ‘Where is my son? How is he doing?’”

Lives changed

It took less than a month before Ps Jonathan was discharged from hospital, and another month before he returned to preaching in church. This was considered speedy given that a transplant is a major operation.

(Left to right) Ps Jonathan with his nephrologist Dr Vishwanath in India.

“This whole experience has humbled me,” said Ps Jonathan, who is also a pioneer of the Festival of Praise, now called FOPx. “My heart has changed so much.”

The relationship between father and son has also strengthened.

“We are not the kind of family that says, ‘I love you’, kiss you. We probably never will be. But we are now a different Jonathan, a different Johnson,” said Ps Jonathan.

“Without him, I would not be able to speak to you. I’m very proud of him. He is my hero.”

The experience changed Johnson as well, giving him a deeper love for God’s Word.

Johnson said: “It has brought me to another level in my spiritual life. I got closer to God. He has been so faithful. He really took care of me like a small child during the whole process.”

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