Family Bestows Gift of Health

Toward the end of her four-year struggle with kidney failure and the near shutdown of her liver functions, Maria Alvarez was suffering almost continuous pain.

She thought her life would end in two years.

“I didn’t have any enthusiasm,” said the 57-year-old mother of three.

But after undergoing organ transplants from two of her children at USC University Hospital, she expects to live a full and healthy life.

In what hospital officials called a “first-of-its-kind surgery,” her son, Jose Alvarez, a 36-year-old insurance businessman, donated a portion of his liver during a transplant operation in September. Six months later, his sister, Rosario Proscia, 35, a Las Vegas hairstylist, donated a kidney.

The two procedures mark the first time a person has undergone a dual kidney and liver transplant from live donors, said Dr. Rick Selby, a member of the surgical team.

“It has restored her vitality,” he said. Her donor children have suffered no adverse consequences, he added, noting that Jose Alvarez’s liver will regenerate to full size.

The transplants became necessary because Alvarez had suffered from liver and kidney disease for years. She has been receiving dialysis treatment since December 1997.

Her liver, though enlarged to several times normal size, had not completely failed, Selby said. As a result, she did not qualify for a transplant from a cadaver.

Alvarez said she could eat very few foods during her illness. Walking was limited, and she could not continue working as a housecleaner.

Her treatment required 15 hospital stays.

The first surgery was the most complex and dangerous because it involved her and her son’s liver and her kidneys. Recovery was slow and difficult.

“There were many complications, and every day was like drama,” Jose Alvarez recalled.

“We had our moments of crisis, but we came together and grew closer as a family.”

Her daughter, Rosario, said her surgery was minor compared to what her mother endured. She said she and her brother never hesitated about donating their organs after they understood the procedure and how it would help their mother.

“We’re going on a vacation, and we’re going to take her along, and we’re going to enjoy life now,” she said.

As for Alvarez, “I am optimistic again,” she said. “I want to study and experience life.”