Raquel's Miracle Kidney

04/29/2026

Scientists discover how to freeze organs without cracking them.

Interesting article, check it out!

Scientists are making a major leap toward freezing organs for future use without damaging them. A new study reveals that one of the biggest obstacles—cracking during ultra-cold preservation—can be reduced by carefully tuning the temperature at which tissues enter a glass-like state. This breakth...

04/17/2026

“Raquel, what were you like in the 90s?”
Always dancing… no matter the place, no matter the song. 💃🏽 Some things never change. ❤️

04/14/2026

This is HUGE!!! The first ever treatment for Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), the kidney disease that I and so many others have! 👏🏽🎉🙏🏽

This disease took my native kidneys and also took my 1st and 2nd kidney transplants in about 3 years and it put me back on hemodialysis. I was diagnosed in 1999 and have been waiting for a treatment for FSGS since then. 🙏🏽🎉😮😍

A breakthrough decades in the making! The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved sparsentan (FILSPARI) for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS).

This is the first-ever treatment specifically approved for FSGS, and marks a major breakthrough after years without disease-specific therapies.

This milestone is the result of years of collaboration across patients, researchers, physicians, and advocates who never stopped pushing for better care.

Join us Monday, April 20th at 8pm ET for a live town hall lead by expert nephrologists where they will discuss what this approval means for those impacted by FSGS and answer your questions.

To learn more and register for the town hall, click here: https://nephcure.org/fda-approves-sparsentan-for-fsgs-marking-a-landmark-achievement-for-patients-living-with-rare-kidney-disease/

04/13/2026

Follow me on Tik Tok!

Check out rawkel’s video.

04/11/2026

Celebrating Blue & Green Day for Donate Life Month with South Florida Donor Network 💙💚

Today we raise awareness for the life-saving power of organ, eye, and tissue donation, while honoring the heroic donors and families who make second chances possible.

Did you know you can donate certain organs while alive? Living donors can save lives by donating a kidney or a portion of their liver.

You can also register to become an organ donor and give the gift of life after you pass. Organs that can be donated include the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and intestines—helping multiple people in need.

Be a hero. Sign up as a donor, have the conversation with your loved ones, and help create more second chances.

04/11/2026

Celebrating Blue & Green Day for Donate Life with South Florida Donor Network. 💙💚

04/09/2026

It’s Donate Life Month and we are honoring the extraordinary donor heroes who make our work possible. In 2025, Gift of Life Donor Program achieved a new national record coordinating the most life-saving organs transplanted of any organ procurement organization in U.S. history and the most organ donor heroes in the organization’s history.

The impact of each donor is rippling through our community — more time around the dinner table, milestones to celebrate and futures restored for transplant recipients and their families.

Like a tree that grows for generations, each one of us can create a legacy of hope, healing and life through organ and tissue donation. “Leave a Legacy” is the theme for Donate Life Month 2026.

You have the power to save lives. Sign up today at donors1.org/register.

04/07/2026

This is so helpful for transplant patients!

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new method to identify which proteins are most likely to trigger an immune response — a discovery that could help improve transplant care, regenerative biotherapeutics and other areas of medicine where the immune system plays a critical role.

The results, published in Biomaterials, challenge a common assumption in the field that all proteins are equally likely to provoke immune reactions.

Learn more: https://mayocl.in/3PRKSri

04/01/2026

In honor of Donate Life month, please consider registering to be an organ donor.

Don't take your organs to heaven, heaven knows we need them here. ♻️

www.registerme.org

April is National Donate Life Month! This year’s theme uses trees as a symbol of life and connection. Just as trees grow and support each other in a forest, donation connects people – donors, recipients, and their families. Like a tree that grows and stands for generations, a donor’s gift leaves a lasting legacy of hope and life. 🌳

This National Donate Life Month, join us in helping to save and heal lives. Register your decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor at RegisterMe.org and share your decision with your family and community! 💙💚 Visit www.DonateLife.net for free resources you can share!

02/20/2026

The podcast I recorded with Jordan Allen is now out, and it is truly one of the greatest honors of my life to have been invited to share my testimony.

Although he passed shortly after we recorded and could not witness its release, his presence is still so deeply felt. While we grieve the unimaginable loss of his life, we also celebrate the extraordinary light he brought into this world. Jordan was truly an earth angel—he had a gift for making people feel seen, heard, and valued. His legacy is not defined by his absence, but by the love he gave so freely and the light he brought into every room he entered.

I will forever be grateful for the space he created for my voice and my story, and for the reminder that one life lived with purpose can impact so many others.

Please take a moment to watch and share this podcast. And more than anything, let this be a reminder to live each day fully, love deeply, speak kindly, forgive quickly, and never take a single moment for granted. Life is fragile, precious, and far too short.
His light lives on. Amén. 🙏🏽🪽💜

Jordan D. Allen sits down with Raquel Friera, a family friend who has overcome extraordinary life challenges—from multiple kidney transplants and years of di...

01/25/2026

I’m still in shock and my heart is broken. Yesterday, the world lost an incredible young man completely unexpectedly. I only met Jordan twice, but in those moments, I felt the powerful divinity within him.

I first met his mom through our shared journey with dialysis and kidney transplants. The day she flew from Cali to Miami was when I first met Jordan. I had goosebumps and even burst into tears because of all the power in that one space.

Jordan was a true man of God, lighting up every room, inspiring, singing praises, and touching hearts. He touched mine when he invited me to be a guest on a podcast he was going to release named "Come As You Are" because you come as you are to Christ. Using the platform to share my testimony and kidney journey to raise awareness which could also potentially help me find a kidney donor.

At the studio, he led a beautiful prayer where he invited everyone in the building and the Holy Spirit's presence filled the room. Everyone felt it including the videographer who later told us he was moved by it all. Jordan gifted me a warrior plaque and a green awareness bracelet at the end of the of the podcast recording, which I will cherish forever.

The last time we spoke, he shared the song God revealed to him (playing in this post) that he wanted to use for our photos and in what could only be called divine alignment, I was wearing the green warrior shirt his mom gave me and the green bracelet he gave me. I told him I didn't believe in coincidences and that God was speaking to us. Jordan lived a life of service and faith. I am shattered and can’t understand why such a good soul is gone. I am grateful for the honor of having met a true earth angel.

Jordan, you already had angel wings on earth, and now you’ve gained them in heaven. Fly high with the angels and watch over your mom, brother, family, and loved ones. You were so close to God that God called you home to serve among his angels. 🪽

Please pray for his family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. Jordan, you will be missed beyond words. 🙏🏼🤍😢

01/22/2026

A big victory! This allows for more kidney disease research. 🙏🏼

On January 20, 2026, lawmakers released a final bipartisan FY2026 Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) appropriations bill as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026. This bill has major victories for people with kidney disease, transplant patients, and living donors—proof that advoca...