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There's two types of surgeries obviously the donor surgery
And the recipient surgery in regards to the donor surgery the donor actually goes to surgery first
We want to make sure the donor is doing well and midway through the donor surgery
We proceed to go and start the recipient surgery each of the surgeries about four hours long
And the goal is to have the recipient ready to go in order to implant the kidney immediately
So the minute that kidney is removed from the donor it gets placed automatically into the right lower quadrant of the abdomen of the recipient
You never want the people that you love to go through pain, but
She's very brave. She is
very brave
I've never doubted going through this process because it's not a matter of how much pain you're gonna go through
Just the act of giving someone life
That overcomes any pain for me. This is bigger just than a kidney transplant
It's something that can show the world how love can cure everything
When I was 11 years old I came to Miami treatment hospital and
And they diagnosed glomerular nephritis membranos and
After that they did dialysis for like eight times
Then I got better and I went back to Puerto Rico and
Seven months ago. I came back and I have a kidney failure. They told me I have to do a transplant
I have to start dialysis. So I've been here for seven months from now
First my brothers my two brothers and one of his girlfriend
She did the test but they were not compatible and for that time my cousin was here for vacation
She's from Puerto Rico and she lives and do go to college there and she said to my mom
I want to do the test
It all started with a Facebook status
I posted that I wasn't sure if I should go to the movies or if I should go out to have sushi
And my aunt or at least mom wrote that you should come over to Miami
So your titi that means you're on takes you and shows you the 305 style of eating sushi
And I had some savings and I said well, you know what I work a lot. I should just go
I've known directly for my whole life for cousins
But I would have never imagined the extent of her situation unless I would have come over here
So I told her at least parents that I wanted to be tested for the donating process the day before I left
So I did it here in the transplant center the Jackson hospital
That was the best new ever it was start like I stayed without breathing for one minute like that
And yeah now we're waiting she did her last test and everything is good and November I'm
going to have my kidney and I'm going to start a new life
I prayed I called my dad he's a pastor my mom was the one she was a little bit skeptical about
you know moms are always very protective you put yourself in another person's situation
and you say you know what if I have two and I and I only need one go ahead take it because
it's simple you're just giving life
oh
when my daughter was notifying me that in fact it was the first person who called me
to consult me about the possibility of donating a kidney for me it was a fairly easy decision
I have to confess it like that because because the person who was going to donate a kidney is
a girl who is like if she were my daughter who is my niece the daughter of my brother that's why it was
that although it was something that impacts at the moment but I really don't know it was so difficult to
tell her she has my support daughter what you decide is fine for me when she wants my daughter tells me
that she is going to be the donor of the kidney because it was not so easy for me it was a little
more difficult because one with a mother thinks wow and now what's going to happen, right, she's going to
donate a kidney and if she gets sick but then when one is thinking about the benefit that this
was going to bring for my niece, then one puts it all in the hands of God and we accept it, we support it,
I see it as an opportunity for God to put in action the love, the faith that we have dedicated so much to God.
When we arrived at the hospital we were anxious, right, excited about what was going to happen,
but also nervous. I would say that it was a day of feelings and emotions found precisely because
the element of uncertainty is the safest thing that we have in life, not only in the
expectation of a new operation but for everything because we never know what is going to happen in
the next minute and that is what makes God special in our life that through the uncertainty that we
can experience we can have some kind of confidence and hope that things the result that
be as they happen will always be in their hands. We feel nervous, we feel anxious, we feel sad because
we don't know what we were going to see, you know, in the future. Well, and God puts his best warriors
in the strongest battles and we are warriors. Maybe it also motivates the donation of organs in
life. It is something that is done and the doctors and the people who are in charge of this they
assure that you are going to donate, that you are in the perfect state to be able to do it.
For me I'm not nervous, I know that I'm strong, that I'm going to make it, that everything is
going to be okay for her. I don't want her to go into pain or something like that, but I know she's
strong, I know she's brave and she's going to be good.
I have a little piece of her inside me, that's going to be like this forever and this new life for the two
living donations really does make a big difference. If you get a kidney from somebody who's passed away,
that average even if you are a very good patient, survival is about 10 to 12 years of that kidney
versus with living donation they could easily survive 20 plus years those kidneys. So she's a
young girl and that really is going to make a huge difference in her life.
She's a young girl and she needs a lot of courage because you're donating a piece of your body
but she doesn't take into account the cost, if we can say it like that, of giving up on something
that you value a lot as an organ and yes the result that she was going to do for the good of
the life of a person in this case her cousin.
When you go through challenges that makes you like know how you really are and how strong you are
and here in the hospital they're like my mom said that they're angels with shoes and it's true
it's not just about you it's about other people now I have the chance to encourage others to
have faith to have a good attitude to be positive when you give when you can help other people that
for me it's no that's that's the best for me.
The past year have been a year of transformation of changes for good when I got out from the
hospital I found myself like like a newborn baby everything has been like a miracle like you see
the purpose in every step when you got your transplant you have a new life so you have to
make sure that that life it's one with purpose and you pick up the pace in a successful way.
Since we have gone through this we can now give support to others that are in the same situation
to talk about faith and to talk about love and how all of those aspects really are what
matter in life. I feel like I receive so much that I have a huge responsibility to give back
and to inspire the world with our story and know that when you have love in your heart there's
nothing that you can't accomplish.
