The family of Mayte Sampedro, a 43-year-old Hispanic resident of South Florida and mother of three who suffers from kidney failure and desperately needs a kidney transplant, launched a multi-pronged campaign to recruit potential donors and finance medical expenses. .
Sampedro, who has been waiting for a kidney for almost four years, has been hospitalized since June 23, when she was admitted to the emergency room with cardiac arrest due to fluid accumulation due to stage 5 kidney failure she is suffering from.
His story reached media such as the Local 10 channel this Monday, but it is also on the networks and on the platform GoFundMewhere his relatives have opened a fundraising campaign under the name of “Kidney Failure”.
“For me, a kidney would be like winning the lottery,” Sampedro told the television channel.
Without the long dialysis sessions at the hospital, Sampedro, who has undergone three consecutive surgeries and procedures, would not be able to live.
“I wake up every morning to prepare for the ‘fight of the day,’” he says in a text that accompanies the collection.
Sampedro is on two waiting lists for kidney transplant units in South Florida and is seeking approval to get on lists in other parts of the state, including Orlando, Largo, Gainsville and Tampa, but would have to travel to be included. , with the consequent economic cost for his family.
According to data from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, organ donation among Hispanics, who have high rates of diabetes and heart disease, especially those of Mexican origin, is low and they are also negatively affected by language barriers to access to transplants.
The number of organ transplants performed on Hispanics in 2020 was equivalent to 30% of the members of that community waiting for a transplant, while among the white population it reached 48.8%.
In 2020, only 14.6% of organ donors in the US were Hispanic.
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