Rey Mendoza
When Rey Mendoza was just 21 years old, he was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. He learned that he had only 50 percent kidney function, was put on a drug regimen, and was monitored by a specialist.
Rey says he really didn’t have any symptoms until around his 30th birthday, when he began to feel very tired and started getting occasional cramps. He was very busy working and going to college and didn’t think much of it, he says, until one day when he was driving home from school.
“I had this horrible cramp in my abdomen,” Rey says. “I couldn’t sit up, and I was driving in traffic.”
Rey eventually managed to pull over and call 9-1-1. He was taken by ambulance to a nearby emergency room, where tests showed that he was in renal failure. He had only 3 percent renal function and had to be put on dialysis, a treatment that performs the normal duties of the kidneys by filtering waste and excess fluid from the blood.
After more than two years of dialysis, Rey was offered the opportunity to go on the transplant list. He chose Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital for his transplant because of its reputation and location, he says.
Rey had the choice to wait for a traditional donor or pursue a living donor, an often-overlooked option that can shorten the wait and reduce the risk of worsening health. He chose the latter. Though several of Rey’s family members stepped forward, his younger brother, Christopher, who was serving in the Air Force overseas, proved to be a match.
In December 2021, Rey received Christopher’s donated kidney at Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital under the care of transplant nephrologist Neerja Agrawal, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Department, and transplant surgeon Antonio Pinna, MD, surgical director of the Abdominal Transplant Department.
“I woke up the next day, and immediately I felt different,” Rey says. His brother’s kidney worked well right away, he says, and after about six months of recovery, he was “thriving” with no dialysis needed.
Transplant Coordinator Maritery Batista-Dudek, APRN, manages all of Rey’s post-transplant care.
“She’s amazing,” Rey says. “She regularly follows up with me and is really relatable. She understands what I’m dealing with.”
In 2024, Rey learned about the Transplant Games of America, a national event held every two years that celebrates organ, eye, and tissue donations through friendly competition and events. Thousands of transplant recipients, living donors, donor families, caregivers, and supporters from across the country participate in the games.
Rey’s company sponsored him in the 2024 games in Birmingham, AL. Though he had only a few months to train, Rey won a first-place gold medal in the 5k race and bronze medals in the 5k and 25k bike rides.
“It was just really special,” he says. “I remember at one point in my life, I didn’t even think I would make it. And then three years later, I competed in the Transplant Games and won.”
He is grateful to his brother for donating his kidney, and to Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital for the “amazing care” he received.
“The staff there is world class,” Rey says. “Everybody treated me with empathy and care.”
Cleveland Clinic offers kidney, liver, and heart transplants with living donor options that may help patients get a transplant sooner. Visit ClevelandClinicFlorida.org/Transplant to learn more.
