Love of a Lifetime
Husband to save wife’s life by donating a kidney; transplant set for next week
Rusilia and Manuel Peña got married April 17, 2021, but they never got a honeymoon. Rusilia, who has had Lupus disease since age 9, was diagnosed last year with kidney failure. To save his wife’s life, Manuel is donating a kidney to Rusilia and the transplant surgery is scheduled for next week at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple. If all goes well, the Ballinger couple will be honeymooning in Cancun later this year. Courtesy photo
DAVID STONE | TEMPLE DAILY TELEGRAM
Rusilia Peña thought her life was coming to a close. Her 18-year fight with Lupus had damaged her heart, liver and most recently, her kidneys. She weighed a mere 50 pounds just last March after being diagnosed with aggressive kidney failure.
“I was getting ready to die,” she said Friday. “I had given up hope, and I was praying for a miracle. Now I have one.”
Doctors told Rusilia and her husband of two years that she desperately needed a kidney transplant just to stay alive. Manuel, the husband, knew he was the answer.
“As soon as I found out, my mind was set to get tested to see if we were a match,” he said. “I had no hesitation — I just knew I would be. When we broke the news to our families, I told them I was going to give Rusilia a kidney — it was the thing to do.”
About a month ago, Manuel, a 32-year-old welder and pipe fitter at a metal fabrication plant in Ballinger, began the testing process at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple.
“It was an all-day thing,” he said. “First, they had to determine if we were the same blood type. We were. Then I had to be physically and mentally evaluated to make sure I could handle the demand of donating an organ.”
The Peñas got the answer they were praying for 10 days later — Manuel was indeed a match and the transplant was scheduled.
“I’m so glad this is working out,” Rusilia said. “My donor is my husband, and that is so comforting. I’m not even worried that it won’t work. God shows up in our marriage daily, and I know everything will be fine.”
The couple will leave their Ballinger home early this week and will arrive in Temple on Tuesday. During the transplant and recovery processes, family members will stay at Amy’s House, just a few blocks east of Baylor Scott & White.
Amy’s House is an affordable, nonprofit hospitality house in Temple for organ transplant recipients, live donors and those who support them. According to Phyllis Renfrow, executive director of the facility, about 14 family members are expected to make the trip to Temple as a show of support for both Rusilia and Manuel.
“The family will stay here while the couple is in the hospital, and the Peñas will be with us when they are released,” Renfrow said. “Our guests will arrive on March 14 and the surgery will be March 16. Amy’s House has eight guest rooms and we will have six reserved for the family.”
Renfrow, who has been with Amy’s House for the past six months, said she became interested in transplant hospitality after her 13-year-old granddaughter was killed in a Salado auto accident caused by a texting driver. The granddaughter’s organs were donated to people in need of transplants.
Rusilia said she is looking forward to life after a successful transplant. She will have to take rejection medications for the rest of her life, but she is certain the surgery will be a success.
“We both will have to recover,” Rusilia said. “Recovery will take about six weeks for Manuel, and my recovery will depend upon how my body reacts with his kidney. I’m hoping it won’t take more than two months.”
“The doctors told me my immune system will be shutdown for two or three months after that, so we will be staying at home most of that time,” Rusilia said. “But, after that, I want my honeymoon.”
The couple was married April 17, 2021, and she became ill a short time later. Then, she was diagnosed with kidney failure.
“We never got our honeymoon — life got in the way. We are planning to go to Cancun or somewhere else that’s beautiful. Then I want to go to college and study to be a phlebotomist or an anesthesiologist. I want to help others.”
Manuel also expressed his excitement about getting his wife healthy and back on her pathway in life.
“Two years ago, I gave Rusilia my heart,” he said. “Now I’m giving her a kidney. I love her very much, and this is the right thing to do.”
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