Baylor St. Luke’s is asking more minority residents to sign up to be organ donors.
Officials say 20% of Texans waiting for a kidney are Hispanic while only 14% of the organ donor list consists of Hispanic people.
It’s not so much that a minority has to receive an organ from another minority, but with this big of a gap between those needing an organ and those willing to donate, more people will continue to die while waiting on the transplant list.
Grammy-award-winning pianist, Eric Figueroa had PKD before he received an organ.
“My dialysis run was nine years. PKD, what it means is your kidneys are not functioning the way they’re supposed to be functioning,” Figueroa explained.
His father, uncle, and daughter all had or have it too. Most recently, his sister was added to the transplant list.
According to the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, Hispanic people make up half of organ transplant waiting lists.
“There’s always a shortage of organs. On average, there are 22 people a day dying while waiting for organ transplantation in the United States,” said Dr. John Goss, Medical Director of Transplantation at Baylor St. Luke’s.
Goss said St. Luke’s transplants to more Hispanic recipients than the national average.
Getting more people to sign up to donate in the event of an untimely death, specifically the groups hesitating to sign up, will help save lives.
“It’s beneficial to everyone to make sure that our donor pool is larger, not only just for organs but also for tissue and valves and other cadaveric organs that can be used not only for solid or transplantation but even knee surgeries and corneas and valves for heart. Those also come from a donor,” Goss said.
Someone with the heart to help others made the decision to leave their organs and saved Figueroa.
“Probably the last two or three months before getting my transplant I was really, really feeling bad... My wife told me those words that night, the night right before my transplant, and she said ‘Don’t lose the faith, you’re going to get your kidney’”, he said. “She said that [and] April 20, and April 21 I received my kidney. So lots of faith. Mucha fe, mucha fe,” he said.
Figueroa said life post-transplant is better than music to his ears.
“Because I’ve realized that receiving this kidney, I’ve realized there’s more to life than music,” Figueroa said. “Take care of your family, embrace your family, make sure that they’re good and fine because if they’re good and fine, you’ll be good and fine.”
Wanting to be an organ donor is incredible but it isn’t the final decision if you were to suffer an untimely death. You need to express your wishes to your family who will have the ultimate say. Or, Dr. Goss said you can sign up on the Texas registry. He said that is considered a more binding agreement.
