Woman gives gift of life to brother, teaches importance of love to family

McALLEN – Lydia Hernandez hadn’t seen her younger brother, Reynaldo Garza, for two days.

The last time she saw him, he was very ill, and both were on their way to an operating room at South Texas Transplant Center at McAllen Medical Center.

Two days later, her brother had a new chance at life.

The 59 year-old Brownsville woman donated one of her kidneys to her 57-year-old brother.

The first time they saw each other after the surgery was emotional. Lydia was sitting down, but had difficulty standing up. Reynaldo was already walking, but could not bend much.

His eyes were teary and full of love, appreciation and gratefulness toward his sister; hers were full of love and pride of her brother, who she now feels is almost like a third child. “I’m in pain, but I will overcome it. What calms it is that I am happy, because I was able to help my brother,” Lydia said in Spanish.

The odyssey began on Christmas night seven years ago when Reynaldo called his family and told them he wasn’t going to make to the Christmas party. His feet and legs were swollen, he said. Family members were surprised by the call because Reynaldo had always in his family’s events.

Lydia’s husband insisted “‘Get sandals on and come over,” Reynaldo recalled his brother-in-law saying.

Reynaldo cut a little from the sides of his shoes so he could put them on at least partially.

He got a pair of sandals on, which he had to cut out a little bit from the sides to be able to barely put his feet in.

When he got to Lydia’s house, everybody saw his feet and realized something was wrong.

Reynaldo went to a doctor, who told him his kidneys were not working at all and that he needed a transplant.

Lydia saw how sick her brother was and wished it were her in that hospital bed instead. She wanted so badly to help, but didn’t know how.

Every time her brother went for dialysis, Lydia prepared herself for the worst.

“You do not know if he is coming back, and he was getting sicker,” Lydia said.

Reynaldo, who renovates homes, was referred to the South Texas Transplant Center at McAllen Medical Center. There, they determined he was a transplant candidate and put him on the list – at the bottom.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 112,471 people are waiting for an organ transplant. Eighteen people will die each day waiting. One organ donor can save up to eight lives.

Faced with reality, Reynaldo’s family began looking for options. They were told that if they could find a live donor who was a match, he could receive a new kidney faster.

Lydia didn’t tell anyone, but in 2007, she registered to be a donor.

After a series of tests, including a blood and tissue test, mammogram, pap smear and even a psychiatric evaluation, Lydia turned out to be a match.

“They wanted to know if somebody was forcing me to make a donation, but no, I wanted to help my brother. That was all,” Lydia said.

The hospital called Reynaldo and told him they had found a donor. He didn’t know until he was in the hospital, though, who the donor was.

 “I had an idea it was her, because she was the only one that had registered, but I was not sure,” Reynaldo said.

The transplant was done Oct. 19 and was the 82nd kidney transplant done in McAllen since the center opened its doors in 2007.

“With a live donor donation, it is much faster to get it done,” said Roger Luna, director of the center.

Thirty-three of the 82 transplants done in McAllen are from live donors.

Luna also is an organ recipient. His younger brother donated a kidney 19 years ago. Both are doing well.

Luna received his new kidney at a hospital in San Antonio.

Now that the transplants can be done locally, the process is much more convenient for the donor and the patient.

“Most of the recipients did not make it on time,” Luna said.

The donor can live a normal life with one kidney, Luna said.

As long as the donor is a match, pretty much anyone can give the gift of life and improve the quality of another person’s life.

 “This changes the way you look at life,” said Lydia. “You are giving life.”

The rest of the family sees her as a flesh and blood hero.

“She returned life to our little brother,” said Irma Garza, 66, of Brownsville, one of Reynaldo’s six surviving siblings.

“We are thrilled with the courage and greatness she had for all of us and our brother” Garza said. “We are all overwhelmed, happy and at ease because our brother is going to stop suffering.”

The siblings were released from the hospital the weekend following the transplant – Reynaldo three days after and Lydia four days later.

“The donor surgery is more complicated than the recipient,” said Dr. Charles Moritz, Medical Director of the Center and transplant Nephrologists.

The recipient is cut open from the front. The donor kidney is removed from the back.

The recipient has to take immunosuppressants for life. The donor can lead a normal life.

Never too late to teach a lesson to a son

“The way my mom expressed her love towards my uncle, and the love she’s always had towards her children, as well as our surroundings, it just made me feel so great of how important I am to my family and made me want to triumph in this world,” said Lydia’s 41-year old son, Victor Manuel Hernandez.

“I come to the idea that I need to make decisions to be righteously made, properly made. Jesus gave me so much strength in my life today… Out of this, I’m trying to be a successful son to my mother ’cause she’s given me some strength that I always had in my inner self that I never realized until I finally experience this.”

Its been a week since both siblings were released from the hospital.

“It hurts,” Lydia said. “I was made aware that it was going to hurt, but happiness prevails”

____

Martha L. Hernández covers health, business and general assignments for The Monitor and El Nuevo Heraldo. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846.