Diana Washington Valdez/ El Paso Times

The Southwest Transplant Alliance, which includes El Paso, reported a 28 percent increase in organ and tissue donations for 2003, a trend that has resulted in more lives being saved or improved.

Thanks to an El Paso family who donated their daughter's kidneys, Pamela Carreon-Licon, 26, was able to lead a normal life after learning she had an incurable kidney disease.

"Because of what they did, I was able to start my life again. I got another chance, and it's something that I'm very grateful for," said Carreon-Licon, who teaches preschoolers in the Region 19 Head Start program.

Before the transplant, Carreon-Licon was frequently ill and suffered chronic back and head pain and stomachaches. She threw up often because! of the toxins flowing inside her body. She had lost 75 percent of her kidney function.

"The doctor told me I was deteriorating, and that I had to have a transplant," she said. "My mom was going to donate one of her kidneys to me, but her blood pressure was too high the day the operation was scheduled, and the doctors wouldn't let her go through with it."

In October 2000, Adriana Cruz was a motorcycle passenger when the bike collided with a car in East El Paso. The young mother, who was a specialist for Child Protective Services, died from the accident.

"Someone from the transplant organization approached us at the hospital, and we decided to donate Adriana's kidneys," said her mother, Delia Cruz.

One of Adriana's two kidneys went to Carreon-Licon, who said there were uncanny coincidences that led her to eventually seek out Cruz's family. Her transplant, conducted at Sierra Medical Center, was successful.

"I knew someone who knew someone who knew her ... and there were other connections," Carreon-Licon said. "Before her memorial service, which is when I met her parents, her little boy wanted to know if his mother was going to be at the service. My mother had read about the accident in the newspaper, and after reading it, I had a feeling it might be her. The doctor just told me that the kidney came from a woman in El Paso."

Delia Cruz embraced Carreon-Licon when they were introduced at the service two years ago.

"I cried the whole time," Carreon-Licon said.

Organ donation in 2003 increased by 33 percent in College Station and by 13 percent in El Paso, said Pam Silvestri, a spokeswoman for Southwest Transplant Alliance.

Overall, the alliance recovered organs from 42 hospitals in 2002 and from 44 hospitals in 2003. Silvestri said the alliance's tissue department also saw an increase in tissue donations, which enabled thousands of patients to receive medical transplants of bone, heart valves and other tissues.