How this Came to Be...

Very few people know about how my kidneys shut down. I was born with abnormal kidneys’ one being small in size and nonfunctional, the other one was diseased. When I was about 18 years of age, I was diagnosed with kidney disease. I didn’t feel any differently, so I didn’t put much importance on it. At that time I was in school and working, I didn’t take the proper care to sustain my kidneys or health, being young and dumb and the feeling of being invincible didn’t help either. By the time I turned 25 years of age I started to notice a Big change in my health. I felt myself starting to slow down, I didn’t care about things I should of anymore, I was very moody and lazy, and I just didn’t feel like myself anymore.

In July 2005, we came back from our Disneyland 50th celebration vacation. I was with Frankie & Amy as we frequently go to Disneyland.
I came back sick with what I thought was only a common cold. I was down for almost a month fighting this cold and just couldn’t seem to get better. I was losing weight, couldn’t eat much, I was throwing up. I felt as if I was about half dead. My mom kept telling me to go to the doctor, but I wouldn’t. My mother couldn’t handle seeing me sick anymore; she took me to the ER and we waited the whole day in the waiting room before being seen that evening. It was then when we were told that my kidneys had completely shut down/ renal failure. At that time, I was given EMERGENCY DIALYSIS! I was told that if I had gone another day without receiving dialysis I would have died. I was in the hospital for three weeks. It was at that time I felt like my life had come to a complete halt! I fell into a deep depression for about a year and a half.
I was going to dialysis 3 times a week for 4 hours a day, coming home sick, sleepy, and out of it. If I had one good day of the week where I felt alive I was lucky. It was a completely different lifestyle for me. I had to accept that this is the way my life had to be.

There are so many people that kept me going and stood by me, as I faced this hardship in my life and one is my mother. Not only is she my backbone, my best friend, she is my ROCK.
From coming with me to every doctor’s appointment, taking me to the hospital, and staying by my side through this life changing experience.
It hasn’t been easy for her either to see all of this happening to me.

Another person who has stood by me is my closest friend Frankie. He is my best friend, my buddy, and my hero. He is my gift to a second chance at life. As soon as he found out that my kidneys shutdown, he didn’t think twice about giving up one of his kidneys for me. He gathered so much information on kidney transplants and researched on what he needed to do to become a candidate for donating a kidney. He did all this groundwork and research then brought it to us. He is the one, who got us to where we are today! For that I am forever grateful, I owe him everything.

When I met Frankie, he was the tallest, goofiest person I had ever met in my life.
In 1997, my junior year in Tracy high school, I auditioned for “West Side Story” and that is where Frank Celentano and I met. He was so carefree and was totally himself. Frankie has always been a positive and ambitious person trying to research and finding a way to do anything he wants.
Ever since we met we have been the greatest of friends. There is never a boring moment when we’re together. You name it and we’ve done it! You’re always safe when you’re with him, no matter what you do. He can make something so dull into something “so magical…so mystical.” He was always a welcomed person in our household as if he was a part of the family. Right down eating all my chips and snacks, to raiding the refrigerator!

This will be our 11th year of friendship and now because of Frankie’s great deed, we can have 11 thousand more years, thanks to his gift to me. I hope everyone can find their Frankie in life, Thank God I did!

Derek Lee Lubag