Gladys Reyes.
"I don't practice any religion, but I have always had a lot of faith. A lot of faith in God and in Catita, my daughter. She was born with bad kidneys and soon after she had to have one of them removed.
Before her first birthday, she had already been on a mechanical respirator eleven times, so we feared the worst, but she always clung to life. In the face of that we feared the worst, but she always clung to life. How could we not have faith in her then?
Born again
Today she is six years old, but her life began a year ago when she was transplanted, when the dialysis ended, the isolation from the rest of the family, her bad mood because of the disease, the tubes all over her body and her difficulty to walk because she simply had no energy.
My husband wanted to be a donor, but he could not. When he underwent the studies, we discovered that he carries the disease that Catita inherited and also his sister, who died at twenty days of life due to the same difficulty in her kidneys.
Catita's kidney came through the cadaver donor waiting list. I will never forget the day we were told there was a donor. It was like winning a great battle. I had some prejudices about it being a cadaver, but when I saw her leave the ward already transplanted, all those prejudices were gone.
The kidney worked immediately. She was always pale, but that day she left the ward with color in her face, wanting to talk, wanting to move around. Ten days later we were at home. Her recovery was a miracle.
Extending life
I know we don't have much culture regarding organ donation, until you need one. We never think that we can be on the other side, but I know that when we know a story up close we change our way of thinking. Donating organs is an act of love, it is extending life in those who need it. And so it happened with my daughter.
What Catita wanted most of all was to pee like any other girl, because in her condition she did not know the experience. Now she can do that and much more. They are simple things, like going to the square to play on the swings or going to a friend's birthday, but they are things she could not do before.
Corporación MATER has helped us a lot in this process. There we have done several expensive tests, which we have not had to pay for or have paid for at a very low cost. Otherwise we could not have done them. In addition, the attention is like that of a clinic, so we are totally grateful".
