He didn’t need any organs. He needed two.
On a fateful day in October, Julian Ramos received a new lease of life after receiving both organs, becoming the first-ever dual organ transplant patient at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.
“They said this is a disease that you have to live with for the rest of your life,” said Ramos, who just celebrated his 33rd birthday. Now, for the first time in nearly 20 years, Ramos can say he is neither diabetic nor on dialysis.
“I feel like I won the lottery,” Ramos said. “This is as close to that feeling as I can imagine.”
Ramos was diagnosed with diabetes at age 14, suffered a stroke at age 29, and has been on dialysis three days a week for the past three years. After waiting a year for a kidney and pancreas donor, doctors found a match.
“God’s timing was just perfect,” Ramos said. “This is definitely a game changer and changes the way you look at life.”
Ramos’ doctors said Ramos’ double organ transplant, one of about 800 surgeries performed a year nationwide, was the procedure that saved Ramos’ young life.
“He had progressed to the point where his kidneys were also failing,” said Dr. Robert Naraghi, Providence St. Joseph’s medical director and transplant surgeon. “This was an opportunity for him to get both a kidney and a pancreas, so it will be a more complicated operation.”
Doctors said they learned Ramos’ transplant surgery was successful almost immediately.
“The benefits are that when you wake up from surgery you will produce urine, you won’t have to undergo dialysis, and your blood sugar levels will be normal right after surgery,” Naragi said.
“It’s really heartwarming to see people leave their organs for people they’ll never see again, but for people like Julian, it’s really heartwarming to see people leave their organs for people they’ll never see again,” said Dr. Yasir Kazi, director of kidney and pancreas transplants at Providence Hospital. I know what it actually means.” St. Joseph.
Ramos shared her health journey because she said it changed my life. He also said he wants to change the stigma and misconceptions about becoming an organ donor or recipient, especially in the Latino community.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Hey, these are my organs. Bury me in the backyard and send me back to Mexico.’ They don’t consider that,” Ramos said. “You can change someone’s life.”
Doctors said there is currently a severe shortage of organ donors, especially in the Latino community.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, about 36% of Latinos waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S. will receive one in 2023, compared to 58% of non-Hispanic white Americans. Receiving an organ transplant.
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