My name is Mona Castro, the mother of Sara. When I was 7 months pregnant, I went to my regular OBGYN appointment. There doctor’s detected my unborn baby’s heart rate was dangerously low. At that point I was put in the back of an ambulance for an hour long stressful ride to a hospital specializing in infant heart complications. I was informed my baby may require open heart surgery at the time of birth. My baby was very sick and I would need to be monitored closely. Next I would be confined to bed rest for the duration of my pregnancy. On December 14, 1990, I gave birth by cesarean to a baby girl. She weighed 4 lb’s 14 oz’s and was diagnosed with severe congenital heart disease and not expected to live. Over the next couple days, Sara would be put through a series of tests. By day four, we were told she needed to have a pacemaker implanted to buy us some time. After the pacemaker we were given 3 options:
- Take Sara home and just let nature take it’s course.
- The Norwood Procedure. High risk open heart surgery that may only buy us a few years without a good success rate.
- The National Donor Waiting List for a life saving heart transplant. The success rate at that time was about 85% and that gave me plenty of hope.
On January 23, 1991, at 5 weeks old, Sara was given that second chance of life. A heart became available and she became the 85th baby under 6 months of age to receive a heart transplant at Loma Linda by Dr. Leonard Bailey. But along with my great joy came great sadness. Knowing that a family out there just lost their newborn baby boy, and in their time of sorrow and grief, they gave so selflessly of their little boys organs so that another baby could live. For this, I will forever be grateful to our donor family. And thank you almost doesn’t seem enough for such a random act of kindness.
Today, Sara is a beautiful young lady of 29 years. She takes medication for life but that doesn’t seem to slow her down. She has participated in many U.S. Transplant Games since 2000 as well as two World Games. One in Nancy, France and the other in London, Canada. She faces life’s challenges head on. She graduated from high school in 2009 and from college in 2014 with her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. She works for CVS Health as a logistics coordinator. Her overall health has been good but unfortunately, over the last couple years, Sara has been slowly heading into kidney failure. She was going through all the necessary steps in order to be listed for a kidney transplant. I knew this might happen as she got older because she has been on so much medication since birth and these medications could one day take their toll on her other organs. Something I always share with others is that life can change in an instant.
Does lightening really strike twice?
My nephew Lucas was born March 4, 2015. He was the first child for my brother and his wife. Super happy little guy and extremely smart. He started a preschool program at the age of 2. He learned his colors, letters and most importantly his love of every kind of truck imaginable. His dad introduced him to Monster Trucks and Grave Digger became his favorite. Lucas was blessed to have gone on many family trips at an early age with Las Vegas being at the top of his list. He also went on his first airplane trip to Hawaii. And in 2018 Lucas attended his first U.S. Transplant Games of American in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was there to support his big cousin Sara who has been attending these games for many years. Lucas became this little advocate for Organ Donation. He went around with his little flag saying “Donate Life”. It seemed that he understood the story of Sara being born with a broken heart and how another family gave her their baby’s heart because he didn’t need it anymore. Now Lucas was born with his own set of challenges.
We found out early on that Lucas had food allergies. Mostly dairy products. This was a wide range of foods including, milk, eggs, butter, cheese and perhaps peanuts too. As a family we all did great in not giving him anything that he couldn’t have. His parents traveled with his own meals and even an EpiPen. But the weekend of his 4th birthday, tragedy struck our family. The family went out to dinner. Something happened. Something Lucas ate made him sick. His parents decided to get him home, perhaps he needed his breathing treatment since he was having a little trouble breathing because he also had asthma. The breathing treatment wasn’t working and at this time 911 had been called. His dad tried 2 EpiPens and nothing. Then CPR as help arrived. He was taken by ambulance and once at the hospital stabilized. Hours later we were given the horrible news. His brain started to swell and he was now ventilator dependent. How could this be? He was going to Disneyland for his 4th birthday!
This isn’t the way our life story should be written.
OneLegacy the Organ Procurement Organization for the Greater Los Angeles area would now be approaching the family to discuss the possibility of organ donation. My family having been advocates for many years because of Sara, they said yes to donation. In their worst nightmare ever they knew Lucas would want to save the lives of others. Most importantly, the family wanted to see if some how, just perhaps some way, that Lucas might be a match for his big cousin Sara. Lucas passed away the day after his forth birthday in 2019. He was able to save the lives of 3 people. Yes, Lucas became Sara’s perfect kidney match. A bittersweet story we would never have imagined. Again, life changing in an instant. It’s been a little over a year now. We are grieving just as the day he left us. Sara continues to do well as she takes care of that little kidney Lucas gave her, yet missing our little guy every single day. We are extremely grateful and thankful to my brother and his wife for the most precious gift one can give to another. It just doesn’t seem enough to just say thank you. I have been an Ambassador for OneLegacy for many years. Volunteering in the community, sharing my story, encouraging and inspiring others to speak to their families and loved one’s about becoming an Organ, Eye & Tissue Donor. I want to honor Lucas by keeping his legacy alive. Even in his 4 short years I know he made a huge impact in this world. I feel this is just a small way of giving back. If you or someone you know is interest in becoming a registered donor, please visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org
