Four People Sharing a Kidney

Four Southern California residents who share an improbable bond of kidney donation recently met for the first time at an event honoring living kidney donors. Ivan Vasquez, 31, of Los Angeles, wanted to donate one of his kidneys to Haing Yun, 67, of Rancho Cucamonga, a patient at LLUMC whom he considered to be “like a second mother.” Unfortunately, they did not match for organ donation purposes. Meanwhile, Nichole Hurtado-Silva, 40, of Bakersfield, wanted to donate a kidney to her cousin, Yvonne Hurtado, 38, of Ventura, a patient at UCLA Medical Center. But they, too, were incompatible for organ donation. In a unique “loop paired kidney exchange” program overseen by medical teams from LLUMC and UCLA Medical Center, the four found matching kidney donors and recipients between them. Through the kidney exchange, Vasquez donated a kidney to Hurtado, and Hurtado-Silva donated a kidney to Yun. All are now doing well, and met for the first time at the second annual “Gift of Life” Living Donor Award ceremony, hosted by LLUMC Transplantation Institute. The four were presented before over 140 people, including other 2013 kidney donor/recipient pairs, at the gathering held in Riverside, where the living kidney donors were honored with awards. “Our living kidney donors are the true heroes because their selfless acts has resulted in saving the lives of others,” shared Dr. Pedro Baron, kidney transplant surgeon at LLUMC. He said a vast majority of patients succumb to their illness while waiting to receive an organ transplant. According to Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), over 107,000 patients are currently waiting for a kidney transplant. Ivan Vasquez had known Haing Yun as a co-worker at a clothing company in Los Angeles, and they had formed a bond. “She cooked food for me and brought food for us to share,” he said. He said Yun started becoming sick, and confided that she was planning to leave California because of the long wait for a kidney transplant. He told her she did not need to move because he was willing to donate his kidney. “It’s an amazing feeling knowing that you made a difference in someone else’s life,” Vasquez said. Yun said, “we were close before, but we’re even closer now.” Yvonne Hurtado had been on dialysis for 10 years and her chances of receiving a kidney transplant were diminishing. Her cousin, Nichole Hurtado-Silva, has six children, was about to be married, and planning to relocate shortly from Ventura to Bakersfield, where she was going to start a new job. But she could not bear the thought of her cousin’s health further deteriorating without her taking action. “I feel I was just an instrument used by God to save a life,” Nichole Hurtado-Silva shared. Yvonne Hurtado expressed gratefulness to her cousin and her donor “for giving me a chance at life.”