ROSELLE, NJ — Nearly 20 years ago, a kidney transplant saved Nancy “Zoeh” Arana’s life.
The Roselle resident moved to the United States from El Salvador when she was just 12 years old. Coming in July, her first impression of the United States was that the weather was the same as El Salvador. And everyone would say, “Excuse me.”
“I love the phrase ‘excuse me,’” Arana said.
Life was difficult at first. Her mom worked two jobs and her dad worked long hours in construction. And learning the English language was difficult. “We had to live in a one-bedroom basement, but we made it happen,” she said.
When Arana was 25 years old, she was married and just had a daughter. She decided to go back to work. When she began working, she was very sick with nausea. “I didn’t think it was that serious,” she said.
Arana ended up calling in sick often. Wanting to keep her job, she decided to go to the emergency room. She was there from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. “The whole day, nobody told me anything,” she said.
When the doctor told her she needed dialysis, she didn’t understand.
He explained to her that her blood was contaminated, and she needed dialysis as an emergency.
Even though her husband worked long hours, he didn’t have health insurance. And being brand new at her job, Arana didn’t have health insurance either.
She had to stay home from work and go for treatment three times a week for three and a half hours – and care for her baby.
“My church helped me a lot,” she said. “My parents helped care for my daughter.”
At first her blood was cleaner, but as time went on, Arana couldn’t take it anymore. Her blood pressure was high all the time and she lost her long curly hair.
Arana spent five long years in dialysis. “In the third year, I was really sick. It affected my thyroid,” she said. “All that was damaged by dialysis, I was always sad.”
Feeling hopeless, Arana thought she was going to die. “I thought I was not going to see my daughter grow up,” she said. “I started writing letters to my daughter – lessons I thought she might need if she ever had a boyfriend, how to handle it; if she was going to college…”
She also hoped that, if she passed on, her husband would marry a nice woman to take care of their daughter. But her husband, Carlos, had a lot of faith.
And, as fate would have it, the situation took a turn for the better.
Carlos got into the union at work, qualifying him for very good health insurance, putting Arana on the list for a kidney. Carlos also had a friend named Diego who called them one night, relaying the message that his son’s best friend was in the medical center at Jersey City, close to brain dead.
Diego went to the hospital on behalf of Arana, even though he didn’t know the family. While at the hospital, Diego was nervous. Going to the family was harder than he thought it would be. He began to leave, but heard a voice in his head say, “Finish what you started.” He found his bravery and spoke to the son’s mom, Martha, who told him if there was a possibility her son would not make it, she would donate the organs.
Diego told her, “I have this young lady, very sick, with a small child. She needs a kidney.”
She then agreed.
“I think God is in control of everything,” said Arana.
After a whole day of testing, she was told, “The kidney is yours.”
Arana spent four weeks in the hospital in observation. She did very well.
After the transplant, Arana was able to be with her daughter more. She said, “I was there for my daughter the first time she got her heart broken, when she graduated, when she went to Japan; I was there for her.”
She was able to go to school and get a bachelor’s degree. She’s now part of the NJ Sharing Network team. “I always wanted to give back,” she said. “I volunteered for the Kidney Foundation.”
Arana also goes on missionary trips and is planning to go to Uganda soon.
“I am eternally grateful to my donor and his mother,” she said.
To learn more, get involved, and join the National Donate Life Registry as an organ and tissue donor, visit: www.NJSharingNetwork.org.
Photos Courtesy of NJ Sharing Network