Michelle and Sal Gonzalez
When she was 12, Michelle Gonzalez was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease. Years later, when she needed a transplant, it came from a perfect match close to home: her husband, Sal.
“I immediately offered to donate my kidney to my wife,” Sal says. “When I first went to Methodist to do labs to see if I was going to be a potential match, there’s a questionnaire you fill out, and it’s online, and I got toward the end. It’s like, ‘Go and speak to a nurse.’ To be a suitable donor, you think you can lose about five pounds?”
Motivated to lose weight and become a donor, Sal completely changed his diet and exercise routine.
“I didn’t want to be excluded just because I couldn’t lose five pounds,” he says. “So I did everything I could. I changed my diet completely. I couldn’t even walk around my neighborhood at first but I started gradually going on walks. I ended up losing at some point up to 65 pounds.”
Needing a kidney transplant to live, Michelle was grateful for her husband’s determination and sacrifice.
“I felt very happy and very relieved because I knew how much Sal wanted to donate his kidney to me,” she says.
Now in shape, Sal went back to Methodist Hospital Specialty and Transplant to see if he was a match for Michelle.
“The day I found out I was a match I got a phone call and they were like, ‘Hey, we’re calling from San Antonio Methodist and just letting you know we got your results back from testing and you’re a match with Michelle.’ At that point I don’t even remember what they said because I was just waiting for that call,” Sal says.
The kidney transplant team at Methodist Specialty and Transplant then stepped in. Patients, donors and their families benefit from a comprehensive team of coordinators, surgeons, nurses, social workers and financial counselors.
“Methodist truly cares like family and that’s exactly what we felt throughout the entire process,” Sal says.
Esme De Leon, a post donor coordinator, says the transplant team works together and takes pride in their service to patients.
“We are here for them,” she says. “We always say that no question is a dumb question. Call us.”
That sense of teamwork shows, says Luke Shen, MD, a transplant surgeon.
“Both of these surgeries are very difficult and can be very challenging,” he says. “Our success can only be done with our great teamwork that we have here from our medical team, our other staff, pharmacy, social workers, nurses. Everyone participates in our program and that’s what makes our program top notch.”
Sal now runs marathons to raise awareness and encourage others to become organ donors.
“As a challenge to myself post-surgery, I try to do a local race every year,” he says. “I run it for kidney disease awareness. I put it on social media. I’ve done a Donate Life fundraiser for it.”
Michelle says she is forever grateful to Sal and the kidney transplant team.
“My husband is my hero,” she says. “He went through so much to give me life. I will be forever grateful.”
To learn more about the Methodist Transplant Institute Kidney Transplant Program, please call (210) 575-8425 or complete the patient referral form.