Kidney gives Daniela Favorito the gift of life - and a babySamantha Townsend
May 26, 2009 03:00pm
WHEN Daniela Favorito received a kidney transplant six years ago her life was saved but the odds of having a child were stacked against her.
But through the miracle of medicine and the power of prayer she is proudly cradling a healthy baby boy after giving birth 10 weeks ago.
"He's my miracle baby," Ms Favorito said.
"Doctors say I'm blessed to have a child because not a lot of transplant recipients have children."
In January 2002, Ms Favorito laid helpless in a coma for two weeks after she collapsed one night with symptoms of a sore throat.
"I was very fit and watched what I ate and lived a clean living life," she said.
At first, she said medical staff did not know what was wrong with her and treated her for meningococcal without response.
"They told my parents they couldn't recognise the problem, they didn't know whether I would get through this and they were told to pray," she said.
"They were just devastated."
She was then diagnosed with having a blood disorder, which caused her blood to coagulate.
During the coma, her kidneys also failed and she was given dialysis treatment.
"When I woke up I was okay but I was told my kidney would not function again," she said.
"It's a sensitive organ and once it's on the way out it never comes back.
"Renal disease strikes anytime anywhere it's not prejudice."
Fortunately from four family members, Ms Favorito's brother Anthony was a match and without thinking twice he donated his kidney.
"You go in so sick but you come out so much better, you could notice the difference straight away," she said.
"I owe my life to my brother."
In June last year, she started IVF treatment with hopes it would succeed.
"I got there thanks to medicine," she said.
It was a high risk pregnancy and she was hospitalised a month before her baby was due.
But she said everything went well and her baby Emerson Anthony Urbano was healthy and strong.
In the lead up to Kidney Health Week (which starts on May 24-30), Ms Favorito urges families to consider donating their deceased loved ones organs - and to have regular checks of their kidneys when they go to the GP. It's a simple test you should take every year.
"If you can donate organs it could save someone's life," she said.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21498,25541949-948,00.html?from=public_rss
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