Mother who had life-saving kidney transplant and son who donated reunite with doctor
VALHALLA (WABC) -- There is no greater bond than the one between a mother and her children, and in this story is living proof.
A mother in need of a dire kidney transplant got the gift of life, from her very own son.
On Thursday, both mom and son got the chance to thank the team of doctors who stepped up to make their family stronger than ever.
"For me it wasn't even something she would have to ask twice," said Jamal Pedro.
Pedro described his gift of life to the woman who gave him life.
His mother, Georgia Anderson, suffers from Lupus, which led to kidney failure, and in need of a transplant.
Pedro stepped up.
"If anyone is questioning on whether to do something like this, it's a big ask and it's a big thing to do for someone, but I got my mom back!" Pedro said.
"I'm just so blessed and so lucky to have a wonderful family that was there for me through both kidney failures," Georgia Anderson said.
This was Anderson's second transplant.
15 years ago, her husband donated a kidney which began to fail last summer.
In August, doctors at Westchester Medical Center performed the surgery.
An experience that brought this mother and son even closer than they were before.
"When I was younger, I didn't play sports, I didn't graduate from high school and I never really felt like I gave my mom something to hold onto and I feel like this was my chance to show her who the person she raised was," Pedro said.
Only 20 percent of transplants come from living donors.
A number of doctors desperately want to increase.
Not only because it helps address the shortfall, but those types of surgeries have better outcomes.
"You can live a healthy life after donation, you will not change anything about your life. You will not change your diet, you will live as long as patients the same age who did not donate a kidney," doctor Meelie Debroy, of Westchester Medical Center said.
Pedro wrote a poem about the experience which has won a couple of poetry slams.
But he is celebrating the greater victory.
"She's smiling, we're laughing a lot more and just her having her health back has been so warming for the entire family," Pedro said.
National Donor Day is celebrated every February 14th, on Valentine's Day, because living donations are an act of love.
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