I met my husband, David E. Rangel, on Memorial Day weekend, in May of 1991. We knew that day that we were soul mates. We were married in January 1995.

In the summer of 1996, David was diagnosed with kidney failure. He did not want to discuss dialysis. The physicians explained that dialysis would be the best option, it was going to make him feel better, and so we did. Dialysis began in October 1996, and so the battle began. David was put on the organ transplant waiting list a year later. The doctors wanted to make sure he was going to cooperate with his health and diet to be a positive recipient.

In Jan. 1998 I began the test phase, and by Feb 14, 1998, of all days, we were notified that I was his perfect match. (Talk about soul mate). On July 30, 1998, David received my kidney, David’s new kidney began to work independently on August 11, 1998, which meant no more dialysis after almost two years.

In 2005 David became very ill and he suffered complications from an unrelated illness and on Nov 14th 2005, passed away. My husband was now in a position to save another person’s life, and I knew that as a caring and loving person, and a recipient of such a precious gift, David would also want to give life to other.

David now was going to save another husband, father, son, grandson, child, grandmother, sister, brother, a perfect stranger, and so he did. And so I then became a donors wife.

I continue my husband’s legacy through my dedication of volunteering as often as I can, focusing not only on our story of perseverance, but also on educating the public about the need to register as an organ, tissue, and eye donor on the Texas Donor Registry (www.donatelilfetexas.org).