God is Good and knows what’s best; I’m glad he does.
All Glory to God
I’m going to start from the very beginning with my salvation to when I found out about kidney disease till now.
When I was 10 years old, I was going to a Faith Baptist Church, and Pastor Harris said something it just struck me and made me realize that I was a sinner who needed Jesus Christ as my savior. When I was 13 years old, I got baptized on January 20, 2013. I remember that date because, as many of you know, my grandparents were missionaries for 55 Years
I was telling my Grandparents when will you be here in Texas so you can see me get baptized? They told me they would be back on January 17-21th, so I told Pastor Harris I wanted to get baptized on January 20 so my Grandparents could be there.
Three months later, it was around March 2013. I was going to see the Family doctor, Dr. Carlos, who was doing some evaluation and labs. When those lab results returned, my kidneys weren’t working well. So, Dr. Carlos told my mom to go to the hospital immediately. So that day, we went to the Children’s Hospital in Edinburgh.
I was there for a few days. I remember people from Faith Baptist Church, where we went then, visited me. So as I was in the Hospital, a kidney doctor came in. It seems as if he was mad. He was very rough when he checked my legs and wanted to do a biopsy. I told my mom he was rough, and I didn’t like him. So, we asked for another doctor.
We went to Driscoll Children’s Hospital; I started seeing Dr. A. He became my favorite doctor. So, around the same time in March 2013, I met Dr. A. He said he wanted to do a biopsy and see what was going on with the kidney. I was on stage three chronic kidney disease. My kidney was scarring and deteriorating, and protein and blood leaked through my urine. So, he checked up on me when appropriate; according to where I was in my stage, when I got worse, there were more visits closer together.
On October 2020, at the time, I did not have any insurance. We were paying by hand to see Dr. A. And I needed to be on dialysis, so Dr. A. told his nurse to set a date for surgery to put a dialysis catheter in my chest on October 31, 2020.
I remember my first day on dialysis; I was very nervous. And my mom took me just in case I could not drive afterward. I never once had any problems on dialysis; God took care of everything. And he took care of me because he allowed me to get the best care. The only thing that ever happened to me on Dialysis is that I feel exhausted afterward when I get home, and sometimes, I would get many headaches that would last all day and go away in the morning, and I would faint a few times. I never once had issues with the dialysis catheter itself. It always worked. And it never broke down. If it did, that meant I would need another surgery. So, I thank God that it worked the whole time I needed dialysis.
My prayer to God. I asked for a kidney with Dr. A. from Driscoll Children’s Hospital. But Doctor A. left In May 2022 for Houston. I was sad that he had to go, and I felt hurt. And ask God why he had to leave. God had said no to Dr. A. So; I had to move on. There’s no point in being sad. It wasn’t going to bring Dr. A. back. The only thing I could do was to keep putting my trust in God.
My new doctor was Dr. R. He is extra careful. He would always check on you in person or by live chat because he’s from Corpus Christi. So, he would do something like Skype and connect everything to a computer tablet. And he will check your heart, ears, and mouth and check if your legs are swollen. I am very grateful that God gave me Doctor R. It’s a blessing because he is careful.
One of the blessings I always thank God for was that I could still urinate, so I didn’t have a water intake restriction, which is very odd for someone on dialysis. It would be a very different and big struggle if I couldn't. So, on dialysis, all they did was clean my blood. There was no need to remove fluids.
This new doctor came to Driscoll, and she saw me for the first time over the computer tablet. She said that she wanted to start removing fluid from me.
I was like, no, double-check with Dr. R. My high blood pressure was high, which is why she suggested that. So Dr. R agreed with her, but I insisted, saying I don’t need it. So, he did a urine test to see how much I would make in a day. He also wanted to do a blood pressure test for 24 hours, and a heart test, and all came out to be good. Thank God everything came out good and that I never needed to have the fluid removed
Every time I went to the doctor, they asked if I had any suicidal thoughts. Do you want to cut yourself? Etc. I always said no. I know it was because of God, who helped me, and all the support, I had and still have in my life from family, friends, and church family is enormous in my life. I’m grateful to God for that. If it weren’t for God being a part of my life, I would have no idea where I would be today.
Around September 2022, I was trying to set up a fundraiser at Wing Barn and was approved. And I could sell all the tickets that they would allow 304 tickets. Therefore, I had help from my mom, church, and friends, who all helped me sell or buy tickets. I sold all of them. I am thankful to God for all the support I have in my life.
A little over one month from October 19, 2022, the day of the fundraiser, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 27, at 10:50 PM, I got a phone call from Driscoll, the transplant coordinator. Unfortunately, I missed the phone call. And then she tried my mom, and she didn’t answer either. She tried twice and left two voicemails. I only listen to the first one. The second one I listen to much later. I didn’t realize that she called at 10:50 PM until around midnight. I was like, "Oh no, I missed an opportunity because usually when you get the call, you got to go right away. Or if you missed the call, they go onto the next person on the list. So, I called at midnight, hoping I could still get that kidney. I woke her up; I could tell by her voice. And she asked me if I had any infections, and I said no, I felt good. I have to pack a bag because there is a possible match for me. I told her I was ready since I was told I was on the transplant list. My bags had been packed for months, I told her. I remember hearing Pastor John saying if you want it to rain, bring the umbrella, so if I want a kidney, I will be ready for it.
Then she told me they would call me tomorrow morning around 8. Before I knew it was 8 AM, there was no phone call. I waited a few hours. I went ahead and made the call and asked what was up. They told me that they were still waiting on the donor. And then, they said to me that if someone needs a pancreas, heart, etc., and a kidney, unfortunately, they will become primary, but if no one needs two organs, you will remain primary for the kidney and told me that I have a very high chance in getting the kidney. So, most of that day went by, and Driscoll was still waiting on the donor. I got another call that day from Driscoll saying they wanted me there at 8 AM in Corpus Christi tomorrow. So, I put my stuff in the car the night before. Very excited that I could not sleep. I got up at 4 AM with very little sleep. I drove the whole way to Corpus Christi. My mom couldn’t come because she was a little sick. So, I asked my dad if he would come, and he said yes.
We got to Corpus Christi at 8 AM. They took the temperature and blood pressure. We were there for quite some time, about 30 minutes, and then Dr. B came in and said we were still waiting on the donor, so we returned in two hours. Eat something, she said. Because I was fasting the night, they hoped to get the Kidney by 8 AM. I’m assuming it took so long because they were running tests. So they will know if I need to be treated for anything.
We went to the fourth floor. I got admitted into the hospital but still waiting for the kidney. Later that day, to give me fluids using the dialysis catheter. Midday, Dr. B. called me over the phone. With bad news, she said she told me that with Dr. S. and told me that the kidney has three arteries and one vein. They told me bluntly that this was a kidney they would not consider. The pictures they had received showed that the vein was very tiny, and he said there was a high chance it would blood clot and not work. So I didn’t know what to do. I Pray about it. They asked me what I wanted to do. It was my choice. So, then I called my mom. I told her what was going on and help me make a decision. They encouraged me, and then I decided to take the kidney because I knew God would take care of it. Dr. B. came to my room to help me decide, but I already had my decision before she arrived. My decision was, and I told her nothing happens for no reason, and nothing is Impossible with God. There is a reason why the kidney is the way it is. God has a plan and could use it for a testimony.
That night they still had no kidney, and since it was a dialysis day, they gave me dialysis at the hospital. My very last time having dialysis was two hours.
So that night, I went to sleep. I was exhausted. I woke up at 6 AM on November 30th, going to the surgery waiting room. We were there for hours. I was still waiting on the kidney.
The kidney finally came, but Dr. S. came to where I was and told me more bad news. They just discovered that the donor was positive for a sexual disease called syphilis. And he said I had a low chance of getting it. So, I called My Mom, Brother Dick, someone who had a liver transplant, and Mrs. Nany from church to tell them what was going on, and They encouraged me. I guess I called them because this is my first major surgery other than a minor surgery, like having a biopsy or dialysis catheter put in. I was very nervous. Although the only thing I knew and did was to put my trust in God because only he can take care of everything of the Kidney blood clotting and syphilis.
I said yes, trusting God entering the operating room and undergoing a 4-hour surgery. I woke up with Dr. B. and other people around me. It’s pretty much a blur. They told me everything went well. I gave Thanks to God that it did go well. I had the best nurse watching me in the ICU.
Four days later, on December 4, around 3 AM, I started feeling sick and almost fainted. I call the nurse. She came in and gave me Tylenol. I said that she’d be back in about an hour or so. I told her no, come back in five minutes.
She returned in five minutes, and I didn’t feel any better, so she called the residence, and they took my blood and tried to make me comfortable. The labs showed that my hemoglobin was 7, meaning I lost a lot of blood. The day before, my Hemoglobin was at 11 and was going up.
So 5 AM, I had an ultrasound of the kidney and a CT Scan.
They told me that everything was good and I was not bleeding. But when the professional came in and looked at the test, he said yes, that there was bleeding. Therefore, they wanted another surgery because I lost that much blood.
When they opened me up, the kidney artery was going like this. Drop, drop, drop, which I learned about when Dr. S. saw me. He told me that the tiny vein he worried about in the kidney was intact and holding on strong. Thank God! And grateful for helping the doctor who managed to fix it.
On December 7, I was released to go to the hotel. I was home for one day. On December 8 at 8 PM, I went to the ER because I had a very high heartbeat, and I called the doctor, who told me to go to the ER so they could check me.
When they got the results back, doctor S. admitted me into the hospital because my kidney got worse and I lost some blood. But this time, it was a lot less than on December 4. I stopped bleeding eventually, and the blood went up and downs a few times. I had ultrasounds every day, and I was still in pain from both surgeries, so they touched my incision a lot. The Kidney numbers were going down and up, which is not normal, so they decided to do a kidney biopsy early on December 14th to ensure I was not rejecting it. It turns out that I was not, thanks to God; when I lost the blood, I developed acute kidney injury due to the blood loss and high-dose medication. So, two days after the biopsy, they let me go back to the hotel, but when I saw the doctor the day after in the clinic. He planned to give me fluids and see how things were the next day. But then Dr. S., the surgeon, and another doctor called Dr. R., saying, “I do not like his labs, and I wanted him back in the hospital, so Dr. R. called me and said we are sending you back to the hospital.
I was admitted for the third time. I was there until December 17, when I got to go back to the hotel. I was given a liter of fluid daily for at least two weeks. Dr. R. slowly reduces the fluids. I never went back to the hospital after being admitted at that time.
On January 26, 2023, I had surgery to remove the dialysis catheter and stent. After the surgery, there was a little bit of bleeding, but it went away right away. And I didn’t have any pain after the surgery. It only felt like I was a bit sore.
The dialysis catheter lasted for two years and three months. I was on dialysis for two years and one month before getting the transplant on November 30, 2022. Thank God!
I started seeing Dr. R. every day to three times a week once a week till I was able to go home on February 4.
Since I left the hospital on February 4, a lot has happened, ups and down. The kidney is not 100%, but it improves whenever something goes wrong. God takes care of it. For example, I had an infection. The doctor said to go to the hospital immediately if I had a fever or felt sick. I never had to go to the hospital for any treatment. Thanks to God for taking care of me. All this time, I had to be taking rejection medication. And because of that medication, I had little to no immune system. I haven’t gotten sick like a common cold or anything, and I give God the glory for that, too, even when the doctor stops the medications that will help fight bacteria.
In my time at Corpus Christi, when I was in the hotel. Anchor Bible Baptist church, my home church, drove two hours and a half to visit me as I recovered. I am thankful to my church for coming. I think God for the support I have in my life.
If you are looking for a church, I invite you, and of course, if you live nearby.
Anchor Bible Baptist Church in Pharr, Texas
Website: anchor-church.org
When I was going to Driscoll Children’s Hospital, my last day was turning 24 in April 2023. Thank God he allowed me to answer my prayer about getting a kidney from Driscoll Children’s Hospital. Which happened on November 30th, 2022; all glory goes to God!
On July 13, 2023, I went to Corpus Christi for a biopsy. To see how the kidney is doing. What I will say for now is that the kidney shows no signs of rejection or BK virus and that the acute kidney injury we discussed earlier is completely cured! All the glory goes to God!
I also got to know a family better and built their website. They probably don’t know it, but they help me a lot. I’m glad I got to know them better. Thank you. You know who you are.
This concludes part 1 of the testimony God gave me and what he is doing in my life. God is Good and knows what’s best; I’m glad he does. Thank you all for your prayers!
Part 2 is coming… I know God will continue to take care of everything.
Only very few people know this right now. The saddest thing of these two months when I was in the hospital was learning about the donor.
The donor is a healthy female who is 25 years old; she got shot in the head.
If you are here today and you haven’t accepted Jesus.
How sad it is for this young 25-year-old female who got shot in the head. She didn’t know when she would die. No one knows how we will die anything can happen, and if you’re not saved, you do not have God's grace.
Romans 3:23-24 KJV
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
We all come short, so no matter what you do, how many good things you do does not justify the good in your life. You can only be justified freely by grace through redemption in Jesus Christ.”
The Bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
So, your redemption, imagine someone dies for you. He gave himself up for your wrongdoing. That’s precisely what Jesus did for you. Will you take that gift he gave you? Will you put your trust and believe in Jesus?
If you want to know more, go to this website: Godwantstoforgiveyou.org.
We all go through hard times, but we must always trust God.
Proverbs 3: 5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Mark 9:23 “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”
Jeremiah, 33:3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”