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Delia Gonzales Silvas
M
Tejano singer
turns to nursing
If you are a longtime fan of
Tejano music, you may remem-
ber a popular group from the
mid-1990s: Delia y Culturas.
Lead singer Delia Gonzales
Silvas was forced to put her
career on hold after she began
experiencing kidney failure and
required dialysis several times a
week to stay alive.
She received a kidney trans-
plant in 2008 at Methodist
Specialty and Transplant
Hospital as part of a three-way
kidney paired donation. You
can read more about her story at
Click
on “Kidney,” then on
“Incompatible Program.”
As a result of her experience,
she went to school to become
a nurse—her ultimate goal
being to work with transplant
patients. In December 2011, Sil-
vas graduated with a bachelor
of science in nursing from the
University of Texas Health Sci-
ence Center–San Antonio. She
is currently seeking a master’s
degree in nursing and works as
a nurse at a San Antonio reha-
bilitation center.
“I am so blessed and fortu-
nate to have a second chance at
life,” Silvas says. “That is why I
wanted to give back, and I put
singing on hold to become a
nurse so I can help others.”
e kidney paired donation program helps
identify living kidney donors for people
with kidney failure. To learnmore about the
program, go to
and click on “Kidney,” then on “Incompat-
ible Program.”
Many people develop kidney disease as
a result of having diabetes and not know-
ing it. Diabetes is prevalent throughout
South Texas and a ects a high percentage
of Hispanic people. If diabetes progresses
and goes without treatment, the kidneys
slowly stop functioning. Other causes of
kidney failure include high blood pres-
sure and diseases that attack the kidneys.
A person with kidney failure may end
up on dialysis, spending many hours
each week connected to a machine that
does the work the kidneys used to do—
cleaning the blood of toxins and releas-
ing the toxins through urination. Kidney
dialysis can make it hard for a person to
enjoy life, work full-time and travel.
Many people on dialysis may not be
aware that a kidney transplant is an option
and that living donor transplants are be-
coming increasingly common. People are
born with two kidneys but only need one
to survive. A person in need of a kidney
can receive one from a healthy living donor
and avoid waiting years for a kidney from
someone who has died and given their
family permission to donate their organs.
A person who receives a kidney
transplant typically lives
10
years longer
than someone who remains on dialysis.
Researchers have found no negative health
consequences for those who donate a kid-
ney to a person in need.
If someone needs a transplant and has
a family member or friend who is willing
to donate a kidney, yet medical tests show
that the willing donor is not a good match,
information about the pair’s antibodies
and blood types are entered into a com-
puter database. Based on that information,
the kidney transplant team at Methodist
Specialty and Transplant Hospital spends
many hours analyzing the data in order to
match potential donors with patients who
need a transplant.
e physicians have had amazing re-
sults, nding compatible donors for people
who, in some cases, were told many years
ago that they would never nd a match.
“We coined the phrase that we are turn-
ing no into yes,” says
Adam Bingaman,
MD, PhD,
director of the living donor
program. “As more people come to our
program with one or more incompatible
donors, we are nding matches and getting
patients their kidney transplants in about
ve months on average.”
Please call the Living Donor Hotline
at
210-575-GIVE
(
210-575-4483
) or
800-888-0402
if you want more information
about becoming a donor or if you need in-
formation about getting a kidney transplant.
We will explore the options with you and
provide complete information about these
therapies. You must meet speci c criteria
in order to be considered for this program.
READ ALL ABOUT IT: The
American Journal of Transplantation
will soon publish
an article titled “Single-Center Kidney Paired Donation: The Methodist San
Antonio Experience.” The article’s authors include (from left) Luke Shen, MD;
Matthias Kapturczak, MD, PhD; Cathi Murphey, PhD; Adam Bingaman, MD, PhD;
lead author Francis Wright, MD; and Sammy Vick, MD.
M
E T H O D I S T
H
E A L T H C A R E
FINDING THE
RIGHT
MATCH
SURGEONS ESTABLISH OUTSTANDING LIVING DONOR PROGRAM
CHANGING HER TUNE
Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital, a campus of Methodist Hospital, has performed more
living donor transplants than any other center in Texas. In addition, the kidney paired donation pro-
gram
is the fastest-growing single
center in the nation, providing nearly
150
paired kidney transplants in the past four years.
S U M M E R 2 0 1 2
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K E E P I N G W E L L
