Donor Registry
Liver/small bowel/double kidney recipient – April 17, 2007, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, Houston
“Si se puede” – Spanish for “You can do it” – was a phrase that Maria Mendez Gonzales said to other patients she met during her journey to receive a four-organ transplant.
Born weighing less than 3 pounds, Maria developed short-bowel syndrome, a condition in which the small intestine fails to absorb enough nutrition. Then, in 2005, her condition was further complicated by severe liver disease and kidney failure. Doctors immediately put 13-year-old Maria on the waiting list to receive a liver, small bowel and two kidneys.
She waited more than a year, but her dreams of an active life finally came true thanks to the very special gift from a 3-year-old donor.