Teen in Rose Parade survived kidney disease

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Saturday, December 27, 2008
Teen in Rose Parade survived kidney disease
A Brea teen rides in Thursday's Rose Parade after receiving a new kidney and surviving a potentially fatal disease.
By LOU PONSI
The Orange County Register

The phone call came at 11:30 p.m.

Audrey never answers the phone that late, but did that night.

"Don't eat or drink anything because we might have found a donor," said the voice on the other line.

About 12 hours later, Audrey Vasquez, then 16, was being wheeled into surgery at Children's Hospital of Orange County, about to become the recipient of a kidney that belonged to a man who had just died in an accident.

Vasquez had been waiting for the organ of more than a year, enduring three-hour long dialysis treatments the whole time, not to mention side effects from medications.

At age 13, Vasquez was diagnosed with Wegners Granulomatosis a rare, often-fatal inflammatory disease that attacks the kidneys and respiratory system.

A new kidney could make Vasquez's life – a series of nightmarish experiences for the past few years – normal again.

Josefina and Armando Vasquez walked through every minute of the ordeal with their only daughter.

"When they wheeled her in, I remember my wife and I looking at each other," Armando said. "And we just walked away and hoped for the best."

The ordeal

"Everything just kind of happened," said Audrey last week from the living room of her Brea home, recalling the spring day she was walking home from Washington Middle School in La Habra. She was in seventh grade then.

For no apparent reason, she felt sharp pain in the joints of her elbows and knees.

"It was unbelievable pain," she said.

Josefina took her daughter to the hospital, but doctors found nothing wrong and sent Audrey home.

The pain vanished but returned within a week, along with "red blotches" all over her body.

Doctors at St Jude in Fullerton were as baffled as Audrey and her mother. The youngster was sent to Children's Hospital of Orange County, diagnosed with a vascular disorder called Henoch Purpura, given antibiotics and sent home.

But after three days, the unsightly symptoms returned

"I didn't know what was going on or what to think," Audrey said. "I was a little afraid … it came out of nowhere.

So back she went to CHOC, where she was finally given the correct – but horrific – diagnosis. It was Wegner's Granulomatosis.

She was immediately started on a high dose of steroids and medications that made her face puffy and caused hair loss.

Audrey dealt with the hair loss by getting extensions, but the emotional trauma was not as easily hidden. Her eighth grade year was marked with regular trips to the hospital for tests and transfusions.

"It was very hard to see the changes in her," her mother said. "She was at the stage where appearance is everything. For her, I'm pretty sure it was very traumatic. You wish you could trade places, but you can't."

Previously an active youngster, Audrey was often too tired to participate in her favorite activities such as dancing. Exposure to any germs was also risky and even a common cold could last for weeks.

The family endured the next couple of years. Then things got worse.

Audrey woke up one morning during her sophomore year at Sonora High School. Her face was puffy, her ankles swollen,her kidneys had failed.

So Audrey's next ordeal involved surgical insertion of a catheter between her right shoulder and chest for the purpose of dialysis treatments. Her sophomore year involved 5:30 a.m. dialysis treatments, three days a week and lasting three hours. Then it was off to school.

Audrey was also put on a kidney transplant list but was not a good candidate because of the Wegener's, which could ravage the new organ.

Without a new kidney, Audrey would likely spend the rest of her life enduring dialysis.

Eventually the disease's harmful cell counts dissipated and a kidney transplant was a safe possibility.

Family members were tested as possible donors. Josephina was as eliminated because of high glucose levels. Audrey's older brother Nolan, now 21, was told that he could be a donor in the future.

That left her father, who was a acceptable - but not ideal - candidate. Armando was 60 at the time. One doctor told him his heart was not strong enough and he could die during surgery. But he was willing to take that risk.

"I had to," he said. "I wanted to give my little daughter a chance to live … I'd rather have her live."

Said Josefina, "It was very scary to us but you don't think about it. You just do what you have to do."

The surgery

Audrey's transplant was scheduled for Nov. 9, 2007.

During the testing process, one doctor asked Audrey's dad if he believed in divine intervention. Armando said yes.

The phone rang at 11:30 p.m. Nov.5, 2007. Audrey was told to prepare right away for surgery because a donor was found: a 24-year old man who was killed in a motorcycle accident.

"It is mixed emotions," Josefina said. "You are happy because your husband doesn't have to go through it, but somebody else had to die."

The surgery lasted four hours and was successful. Audrey had a new kidney.

Three days later, she was home. Three months later, she was back in school. She makes periodic visits to the doctor to insure the disease stays in remission.

Coming up roses

These days, Audrey has become an ambassador of sorts.

She opened a basket of doves at the Donate Life Walk at Cal State Fullerton in April and most recently, was chosen by St. Joseph Hospital as one of the 26 riders of the Donate Life Float in the 120th Rose Parade on Jan. 1. She will be the youngest rider on the float, which represents individuals who have received organ transplants.

Last summer, Audrey attended Renal Camp for Teens at David's Camp Mammoth. She will return next summer and train to be a counselor.

Audrey has expressed interest in one day finding and thanking the family of the man who donated his kidney.

She's on the swim team at Sonora, plans to graduate with her class in June and study nursing at Fullerton College in the fall.

"I've just gone back to my life," Audrey said. "I can do everything I did before.

"I'm just grateful for everything I've learned and the people I've met. I've learned to see things through another perspective. You appreciate smaller things that you take for granted."

Contact the writer: 714-704-3730 or lponsi@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/audrey-kidney-three-2267789-vasquez-hospital