In August 1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley visited children’s hospitals while staying in Budapest. At Bethesda Children’s Hospital, Michael met a seriously ill four-year-old boy named Béla Farkas. Doctors explained that the child desperately needed a liver transplant that could not be performed in Hungary. Without treatment abroad, his future looked frighteningly short.
Michael reportedly responded almost immediately. His Heal the World Foundation agreed to finance the transplant and the treatment surrounding it. Contemporary reports also said Michael donated medical equipment while he and Lisa Marie distributed thousands of toys to children in Budapest hospitals. What had begun as a hospital visit was suddenly changing one child’s chances of survival.
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Visit the Budapest Children’s Hospital
Béla was eventually taken to Belgium for treatment. The operation was financed with Michael’s help and after a difficult medical journey the transplant succeeded. Reports from the period confirm that Michael’s foundation covered the life-saving procedure, allowing a boy who could not receive the necessary operation in Hungary to finally get his chance.
But Michael apparently did not simply pay the bill and forget about him. Two years later, when he returned to Budapest in 1996, he went back to Bethesda Children’s Hospital and met Béla again. This time the desperately ill child Michael had once held was six years old, smiling and alive after his transplant.
Michael Jackson Returns to See Béla Farkas in 1996
The reunion gives the original hospital visit a much stronger ending. Surviving footage from Michael’s 1996 trip shows him returning to the hospital and seeing the boy whose treatment he had helped make possible. Years later, Béla would speak publicly about surviving because of that financial support and the connection he continued to feel toward Michael.
Michael Jackson became one of the most successful entertainers in history through Thriller, “Billie Jean,” “Bad” and performances seen around the world. But in Budapest, his influence meant something completely different to one family. Watch the first video to see where Michael and Béla’s story began, then watch the second to see the moment they met again after the transplant had saved the little boy’s life.