Fuquay-Varina mother hopes for kidney donation for her adult son

FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. (WTVD) -- Oscar Rodriguez wears a big smile in the photo his mother shared with ABC11, but he's living with polycystic kidney disease.

She also shared a note from him that reads: "Over time, my kidney disease has gotten worse causing my kidney's not to work well enough to keep me alive."

"We're looking to see if we could get a living donor for the kidney and for our son," said Lydia Jimenez. "He's only 45 years old and has two young kids. He is close to dialysis, which is a step that we would like to skip because dialysis is strong in the body. There is not a national list for a kidney transplant. So one has to go to different hospitals in different regions and get registered."

He also wrote, "Unfortunately, Polycystic Kidney Disease is hereditary. Both my father and brother have this disease. However, they are at earlier stages of the disease."

His father, also named Oscar Rodriguez, received a deceased donation of a kidney but so far, there's no match for the son.

So his mother Lydia Jimenez contacted ABC11 after watching a CNN story about correspondent Richard Roth and his organ donor, a coworker at the news channel.

"He was fortunate that one of his colleagues did decide to donate. So they were talking about it and she was in one day and the next day she was discharged. And they looked very well both of them did," she said.

They hope it can happen with their son, but "He's been on the list for the past three years. The waiting period for you know, a donor or a recipient is three to six years. If you're lucky. There are about 100,000 people on that donor list. So, it is a task not easy to do and part of it is because of the lack of understanding from the public."

His mother shared a flier with information about National Donate Life Month, which says this Friday is Blue and Green Day. You're urged to wear those colors to spread the word about the importance of organ donation.

"We have a lot of people here who are sick," said Jimenez. "Maybe we can help each other out."

Rodriguez's father said his procedure went well, and insurance covered the costs.

"They'll evaluate you ask you some personal questions, medical questions, and then they'll start doing blood work to see if you're a match or not. And sometimes if you are not a match like, let's say with my son, you can be a match with somebody else," he said. "So you could donate to somebody else, somebody else could donate to my son, and that's the way they work it out. "You may have to go to the hospital visit for a couple of times for the process, that because there's MRIs and there's blood, and so on and so forth. But he's a simple process."

Call (919) 946-5160 or (914) 494-3870 if you're able and ready to donate a kidney to their son.