Young Boy Turns To Best Friend's Mother For Kidney

[okarol]

Firstcoastnews.com Article
Young Boy Turns To Best Friend's Mother For Kidney

July 16, 2007

ORLANDO -- Two Florida families are about to share a special bond.

A 12-year-old boy needs a kidney and his best friend's mother is a match.

David Black and Dale Tanguilig have been friends since kindergarten. Best of buddies, and soon almost brothers.

David Black says "my last name's Black. But, since she's giving me a kidney, it's like 50%, so, now I'm gonna be a Blac-kuilig."

David has a kidney disease. He's been on dialysis for a year and is now in need of a kidney.

David says "But, like, I've learned to do a couple of things on the machine. And, I give myself shots. I have to get a shot every day. Always getting blood work done every month 'cause I'm kinda used to that."

Enter Dale's mom, Denise. She and David are a match and Monday morning in Tampa Denise is giving David one of her kidneys.

Denise Tanguilig says "Dale came home from school and he just said, you know, 'David needs a kidney. And you have to be, you know, between this age and that age and O positive.' And a light bulb went off in my head."

Denise then told David's family her decision. They cried, agreed to do it, and now hours before the surgery Denise couldn't be more sure this is the right thing to do.

Denise says "A lot of people said 'What if something happens to your kid and they need a kidney?' I can't think about what if. Somebody needs it now. And I can't wait, you know, six years for the possibility of somebody needing it."

David says he's pretty relaxed, just ready for the big day. He's thankful to Denise, even though she does not want to be called a hero.

Denise says "I just don't look at it that way, you know. Everybody says I am and, if that's the case, fine. But I just look at it as, you know, life's too precious."

David says "I wanna say thank you very much 'cause I really appreciate it."

Both families will be at Tampa General Hospital Monday morning for the transplant. Denise goes into surgery at 7:30am, David goes in at 9:30am.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=86810&ref=rss

[goofynina]

Who better to give it to than someone so young.   He has so much to look forward to, i hope it lasts a very very long time for him.  Good luck to the both of them. 

[angela515]

Thats so wonderful to hear.... and shes so right about not waiting... her son may never need a kidney.... its about who needs it right now. So proud of her.

[Sluff]

Hope things go well for both. 

[okarol]

Boy's Best Friend's Mother Gives Him Kidney

Tue Aug 7, 7:14 PM ET

David Black of Deltona needed a kidney and his mother's best friend responded.

Denise Tanguilig offered David one of her kidneys.

The surgery was a success, and WESH 2's Wendy Chioji was the first to talk to David.

David just got home from Tampa General after surgery to get a kidney from his friend Dale's mother on July 16.

"It hurt a little bit, and when I got out of the hospital, it hurt, but it?s better now," David said.

David has a progressive kidney disease, and had been on a dialysis machine for a year and a half.

"At the beginning, it was very hard for him. It was painful, but he got used to it," Bonnie Black, David's mother said.

David had just become eligible for a transplant, when Tanguilig, Dale's mother, found out he needed a donor.

"Out of my mouth came, from I don't know where, 'Well, what if I did it?' It just rolled from there. I honestly could not tell you what made me do it," kidney donor Tanguilig said.

Tanguilig was tested and she was the right "O" blood type -- a match for David.

"I know I gave David life, but I just look at it as somebody needed help and I just?I never even thought twice about it. People say I'm a hero. You're an angel; you're a gift from God, but I don't look at it that way. He needed help, and I was there to give it," Tanguilig said.

David is feeling great. He has more energy and has gotten off the dialysis machine.

"I'll be able to do a lot more things than I used to, like go to the beach and sleep over at friends' homes without having to be hooked up to a machine," David said.

To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Wendy Chioji.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wesh/20070807/lo_wesh/13843147

[goofynina]

Thanks for the update Okarol,   CONGRATS LI'L DAVID 

[okarol]

August 18, 2007

New kidney means Deltona boy can just be a boy

By SARA KIESLER and NICOLE SERVICE
Staff Writers

DELTONA -- What once looked like a hospital room -- with a dialysis machine as a constant reminder of David Black's chronic kidney disease -- now looks like a 12-year-old's room filled with movie posters, awards and video games.

There's even a sign on the door that reads, "Do not enter unless you are an adult."

Underneath is a drawing of a little girl with a circle and a slash across her, followed by the words, "Find something else to do."

"That's for my sister," David says, grinning before he bounces down the hall with his friends Dale and Dylan Tanguilig and David's little tan dog, Penny, trailing behind them.

A lot has changed in the month since David underwent a kidney transplant in July. For starters, David has more energy.

"A lot more energy," says his mother, Bonnie Black.

"A lot, lot more," Dale adds, rolling his eyes.

Dale and David have been best friends since kindergarten. It was Dale's mom, Denise Tanguilig, who ended up being David's kidney donor. David was diagnosed with a nephritic syndrome, a chronic disease of the kidneys that slows a person's growth and causes them to suffer from high blood pressure, among other problems.

Denise says she decided to give a kidney after watching Dale become upset whenever David was in the hospital.

She insists she's no hero.

"Everybody is like 'you're a hero. You're an angel, this and that.' I really don't look at it that way," says the Deltona mother. "I just hope if my kids needed it, somebody would be there for them."

On Friday, both families gather at the Blacks' home in Deltona for fun. Inside David's room, the duo play checkers, while he teases Dale mercilessly.

"Who always loses?" David asks.

"Me," Dale replies, shaking his head.

"And who always wins?' David taunts.

"You," comes Dale's slightly amused reply.

He's right. David wins and he loses, so they take the competition to a video game, with the pain of the surgery and David's once-restrictive life almost forgotten.

All David talks about now are the things he can do and has been able to do since the surgery.

"I got to go to my friend's house and swim," he says.

Before, he couldn't go into the water or sleep over at someone else's house. He has been at two sleepovers since -- including the first one at Dale's house.

"He had to sleep on the floor," David says, pointing to Dale. "His mom made him give me the bed."

Like two typical boys, for about 30 minutes they taunt each other as they play, joke about friends and enemies at their school, Galaxy Middle, and talk about things they can do now that David is better.

Like visit the beach. Before surgery, David couldn't go to the beach because the sand is unsanitary for catheters.

"I am looking forward to that," David says.

Sitting in a rocking chair, Denise jokes about how David bounced back faster than she did, but says the pain from surgery isn't as bad as the doctors warned it could be.

"I am doing fine," she says. "I just can't move anything heavy."

Around her neck, she wears a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. David gave it to her.

Inside is his picture engraved with the words, "Thanks for the special gift."

It equals the gift Denise gave him before they both went into surgery last month -- an ID bracelet etched with the name "Blackuilig" -- a symbol of his combined families.

sara.kiesler@news-jrnl.com

nicole.service@news-jrnl.com

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newWEST01081807.htm