Kidney
recipient: ‘He has given my life back’
Priest shows what ‘good shepherd’ means
By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA — The Easter Triduum was a time of profound gratitude
this year for Margarita Chavez: It was the anniversary of an ordeal that
finally ended last October when she received a life-saving kidney that
was donated by her former pastor.
Chavez belongs to the Archdiocese of Miami, Fla., which is the home diocese
of Father Alfred Cioffi, who has been in residence at Our Lady of Hope
Rectory in North Philadelphia since late March 2007. He serves as staff
ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in the Overbrook section
of Philadelphia.
What a difference a year makes.
During Holy Week last year, Chavez, now 48, was in an induced coma. She
was suffering from pneumonia and severe respiratory failure and, because
of severe inflammation in her lungs, had shortness of breath and was asphyxiating.
By Holy Thursday she was in intensive care and, because she had also been
suffering renal failure for several months, her nephrologist put her on
kidney dialysis.
At noon on Good Friday 2007, she underwent surgery for a lung biopsy.
That same evening, she was induced into a coma.
And then, in the first week of Easter, Chavez began to recover.
Father Cioffi, who flew from Philadelphia to Miami to help Chavez during
her ordeal, had offered to donate one of his lungs. But Chavez was not
a candidate for a lung transplant. She had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage
in 1991, and the surgery was deemed too severe for her.
The priest had stayed in touch with Chavez’s family, who he had
met more than a decade ago when he was pastor of St. Kevin Parish in Miami,
because he knew that Chavez’s health was delicate.
By early May last year, Chavez was discharged from the hospital and sent
to a rehabilitation center because she was suffering severe atrophy —
her muscles had deteriorated and she weighed just 90 pounds. She remained
on dialysis.
It was then that Father Cioffi again came to Chavez’s rescue by
offering to donate one of his kidneys. It took until October for Chavez
to be well enough to tolerate the major surgery of a kidney transplant.
Father Cioffi, now 55, said he regards his sacrifice as nothing spectacular.
“It is what every healthy person could do, especially priests and
nuns, since we do not have a specific family to maintain. It is a good
gesture of generosity.”
The timing of Chavez’s agony last year during Holy Week continues
to awe them both. This year, Chavez flew to Philadelphia to celebrate
Holy Week — and especially the Easter Triduum — with
her kidney donor.
On Good Friday, the priest demonstrated how successful his surgery had
been by doing a few jumping jacks. “Donating a kidney’s a
piece of cake,” he said with a laugh.
“Seriously,” he added, “for the discomfort of three
or four days at the hospital, and one to two weeks of recovery at home,
a living kidney donor can actually save the life of another person.”
This is the third kidney transplant for Chavez, who is a stockbroker by
trade. The first was in 1991 and the second in 2004. Chavez said she gives
back by leading the Respect Life ministry at her parish, which is now
Good Shepherd Parish in Miami.
“I feel resurrected,” she said. “I’m so grateful
to Father [Cioffi]. He has given my life back.”
For more information, visit the Web site of the Organ Procurement and
Transplantation Network at: www.optn.org, then click “Donation and
Transplantation,” or call (888) 894-6361.
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine may be reached at (215)
587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.