In 2007, after surviving an atypical pneumonia virus, chronic encephalitis and several days in a coma, I was diagnosed with Systemic Sclerosis (Scleroderma), a rare, incurable degenerative autoimmune disease that has caused me pulmonary fibrosis, irreversible damage to my lungs, I could not breathe by myself. From September, 2011 until December 23rd, 2014 when I received a second chance at life, I was connected to oxygen, and as time went on, my breathing capacity continued to decrease, causing the most simple, everyday tasks to become impossible, things like going to the bathroom, taking a shower and walking, among other things, and to the point of having to receive the highest quantity of oxygen possible to keep someone alive.

 

In September 2014, I was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension (cardiac insufficiency on the right side of the heart). The only way to improve my quality of life was by having a lung transplant, a long and rather complicated procedure that is not available in my country: Venezuela.

 

After having been rejected in other countries and various transplant centers in the USA because of my base illness, October 3rd, 2014, I was officially added to the waiting list at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio for a double lung transplant. It was the only transplant center that accepted to evaluate me.

 

Thanks God, my DONOR, my medical team, my family, friends and the USA, on December 22nd, 2014 at 11:00pm (when I was just minutes away from going into a coma and being connected to the ECMO), we received a call that there were a compatible lungs for me, but I had to wait until 6 am to find they were in a good condition for me, because at any moment I could have a cardiac attack because my heart and lungs were very tired.

 

Effectively, at 6 am on December 23rd, I received the BEST GIFT OF MY LIFE, and on December 24, 2014, I woke up with new lungs and breathing on my own. It was amazing.

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What has gotten me through this process has been never lose HOPE, keeping hold of myself, strengthening my FAITH from day to day, and receiving all the LOVE from my family and friends, who have been and continue to be my motivation and inspiration to keep fighting. Likewise, I continue to work from home, researching, supervising theses, and offering legal and management advising.

 

I am currently a Donate Life Ambassador, through Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency University of Miami, because I really believe ORGAN DONATION is the most beautiful miracle of the medicine and we can save many LIVES together.

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