20-Year-Old Woman is Racing Against Time to Find Kidney Donor – NBC Southern California
A Mission Hills family has a Christmas wish, but it’s not for toys or materialistic things: a woman needs a kidney donation, and is desperate for a holiday miracle.
Nadia Menjívar is 20 years old. Since birth she has had complications with her heart.
Despite this, her medical issues have not prevented her from having a childhood. But everything changed a year ago when doctors diagnosed her with chronic kidney disease.
“She needs a kidney because she is in stage 5. This means that her kidneys are not working,” says Nadia’s mother, Gisela Menjívar, in Spanish. “Both of her kidneys are 9% working. If she does not receive a kidney, her life is in danger.”
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Her life has not been easy since her diagnosis. Every day is a fight. She must eat well — extremely clean — and stay positive, as her family races against time.
This Christmas, Nadia says that she has not lost faith because she believes that a miracle will happen.
“I want to be healthy and be with my family. Being able to do the things I did before I got sick,” she said.
Nadia’s dream is not only to recover but to become an actress. She wants to be able to work in the film industry and leave a legacy with her story.
The kidney that Nadia needs must come from a type O positive blood donor, between the ages of 25 to 55 years old. That miracle, she says, will be the gift of life, not only for this Christmas but for the rest of her days.
See this story in Spanish on Telemundo 52.
