Hi, my name is Rubi Duran.
I am 24 years old and I was diagnosed with kidney failure
when I was 23.
So symptoms that I had prior to my diagnosis were swelling in
my body, particularly on my ankles,
puffiness under my eyes, I often felt really tired
for no reason.
My blood pressure was really high, so that caused
me to have, like, major migraines.
Over time, those symptoms like overlapped and I was taken to
the ER and that is where I was diagnosed.
End-stage kidney disease is a collection of diseases that
affect the overall function of the kidney.
Sometimes patients go on to need dialysis or
a kidney transplant.
So dialysis, the machine, is not as good as
your natural kidneys.
And so as a result, you can get a buildup
of calcium, phosphorus, you have to be on
a special diet.
So it really just disrupts the normal day-to-day things that
we all take for granted.
So there are all kinds of consequences to either
peritoneal or hemodialysis but if you have kidney failure,
you absolutely need it.
I do have to say that my symptoms were worse when I
actually started dialysis.
My food started tasting like metal.
I felt very, very tired.
I had no, like, energy.
I just began to, like, look yellow and my mental
health wasn't in a good place.
I just, like, felt sad, like, hopeless.
And I didn't really know what kidney disease was and what it
was going to influence you and what my future was going
to look like.
So I lived with a lot of uncertainty.
You know, of course, like, finding a kidney
donor isn't easy.
I knew right off the bat that my parents weren't going to be
able to donate to me because they are in the older side.
So I just knew that I had to do something on my end because I'm
the one who's going through this.
So I just, like, when they just thought of,
like, posting my story on TikTok, of how like I
needed a kidney donor to like help me and like to live a
more healthier, like, better quality life.
And I got a great feedback and I got a lot of
support and love, and out of those supporters a lot
volunteered to wanting to help me and donate to me.
And Sandra Leon was one of the candidates that was able to
help me from the video that I posted online.
She messaged me and she told me like, if I had found
a kidney donor, and I told her that I was still looking for
someone and she told me that she wanted to help me out and
that she did it from her heart.
So she did start the process.
And every now and then she would update me of like what
step she was.
And I finally got a phone call from my kidney coordinator
letting me know that she is like a perfect match for me and
that she is in excellent condition and she's willing to
donate whenever I'm open to have surgery.
I think when you have kidney disease and you are
entertaining a kidney transplant, you find
yourself on the list, I think you have to exercise every
option to find someone to donate a kidney because,
you know, wait times differ across the country.
In San Diego, in this area, it's 7 to 8 years you'd have to
wait for a kidney.
Some people just talk to their family members,
some people use church, some people put it on the back
of their van.
But Ruby really found a unique way to tell her story.
And that's really what it is.
You're telling your story as to what your predicament is.
And using social media or other forms of communication, I think
is totally acceptable and is a great idea.
My doctors told me that my surgery had gone excellent,
that there was no complications, and overall
the nurses were super sweet.
My doctors were very helpful.
And, and to this day, me and Sandra, we text,
we FaceTime.
I just generally feel like she's my sister and it's just,
like, beautiful, like meeting someone who I once
didn't know.
And now she is like a part of me and I'm living off a part of
her to, like, live my, my full life and, like, live to the
best I can.
She just taught me that there's, like,
beautiful people out there with big hearts and yeah.