By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor
Longtime Pennsauken resident Nydia Torres has spent a lifetime helping others. She was a nurse for over 40 years, focusing primarily on at-risk youth, children, adolescents, and families dealing with mental health crises. A former adjunct professor at Drexel University, Nydia taught the next generation of medical professionals. And when her children participated in youth sports, she was involved with PYAA.
She has plans for the future. To volunteer at nursing homes. To work outside in her extensive gardens. To look after her six amazing grandchildren.
None of that will be possible unless she receives a lifesaving gift of a kidney.
“I went into kidney failure and learned that I have chronic kidney disease,” said Torres from her home in the Delair section of town, where she has lived with her husband, Felix, since 1990 and where they raised their three children. “The doctors who have been treating say that I’m ready; that this is a good window to find a transplant if I can find a living donor.”
Currently with just roughly 20 percent kidney function, Nydia’s days are filled with pain and exhaustion, a stark contrast to her non-stop days in nursing. Hobbies are replaced with hours of dialysis, three sessions a week. Receiving a kidney from a living donor will afford Nydia a new lease on life. Patients with donated kidneys statistically have much better outcomes when it comes to function and longevity. And that’s exactly what Nydia is praying for.
“A new kidney will give me time to live a little bit more. To enjoy life now, after working so hard,” said Torres. “I want to enjoy my grandkids and help the community.”
Through the National Kidney Registry, individuals do not have to be a direct match. If an individual donates a kidney on her behalf, and that helps another person in need of compatible donor, Nydia would receive the equivalent of a “kidney IOU.” The NKR matches donors and recipients throughout the United States; this increases the number of kidney transplants each year and makes for the best patient outcomes. Any individual donating a kidney on Nydia’s behalf would have their costs of testing, hospital, and medical care covered through her insurance.
“The National Kidney Registry told me to go to my church, go to my community, and really work to see if I can get a living donor. It doesn’t need to be a match,” explained Torres. “If I find someone who’s a better match for someone else, they can rush me a kidney.”
Nydia has a page on the National Kidney Registry’s website, NKR.org/NPM987, where you can learn more about her story, as well as see if you’re qualified to donate. Just sharing her page via social media will go a long way to help.
“I’ve been waiting two and half years for a new kidney,” said Torres. “Any support, whether it’s sharing my story, considering kidney donation, or offering your prayers, can help me regain my freedom, to tend my garden, and cherish moments with my family.”
