04/02/2026
"I am the oldest of four. My brother Luis was one year and five days younger than me.
When he was 26, he began scratching his entire body. After a painful biopsy, doctors told him he had a liver issue, but that it wasn’t urgent at the time. He was advised to go to the hospital when he became seriously ill.
Six years later, his complexion had turned green, and he was very sick. After several tests, doctors told him he needed a liver transplant.
My youngest brother and I were both tested and found to be matches, with mine being the better match. However, I was told it would be more dangerous for me to donate. Luis died shortly afterward at 32.
It felt like a senseless death and a loss no family should have to endure. In that moment, I decided I would do something so another family wouldn’t have to go through the same pain.
Life moved on. I became a police officer and a single mother. I always missed Luis, but I hadn’t yet taken steps toward organ donation.
Eventually, I did. I shared my thoughts with a friend, who connected me with someone in need. I decided to become a directed altruistic donor, meaning I would donate to a specific person I didn’t know personally. We were a match and met during the evaluation process.
I ultimately was not accepted as a donor. However, while I was on my way to the airport for a trip to Vietnam, she called to say she had received 'the call' and was going to the hospital for a kidney transplant. I felt proud knowing that she had only put herself on the transplant list because of our connection. She is still in good health today with the kidney she received in 2018.
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, someone in my community needed a kidney. I contacted the hospital to be tested, but they asked if I would instead participate in an altruistic donor chain because that individual already had several potential donors being evaluated. I agreed.
Due to the pandemic, the testing process was more difficult, and at times I was told that my potential recipient was no longer part of the chain. I was not given further details.
What I do know is that on May 6, 2021, I donated a kidney to a 36-year-old woman.
Four months later, I met her. I learned she had lupus and was a single mother to a teenage son. Her sister had previously donated a kidney to her, but it failed after six months. Her mother had been a potential donor but was no longer able to donate directly to her. Instead, her mother donated to a stranger so her daughter could receive my kidney.
Her daughter had only a 7% chance of finding a match, and I was that match.
The chain continued.
On her 40th birthday, I drove to Florida with my parents and my dog after she invited us to celebrate. Today, she is working, attending university and living her life fully. We speak every week.
If I could donate another kidney, I would.
What little I had to do so that someone else could truly live, instead of spending three days a week on dialysis, is worth everything.
My brother is in heaven, and I wish he had received his liver. But everyone is someone to someone. By becoming a living kidney or liver donor, or by simply registering to be a donor, you can change and save lives."
—Marta R.
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 SayYesGiveLife.org and share your decision with your family and community! 💙💚
