Erica Molina , El Paso Times

Andrea Rae Dominguez died Feb. 20, eight days after she was in a car accident in far east El Paso County.

Her parents, Ofelia and Dick Dominguez, made a decision then that they were
certain would be what Andrea wanted -- they donated her organs.
"My daughter made the decision long ago when she got her driver's license.
She decided she wanted to be an organ donor," Dick Dominguez said.

On Sunday at the Southwest Transplant Alliance's 14th annual donor family
recognition ceremony, the Dominguez family met Carl Payne and Jose Manuel
Rodriguez, two area men who each received one of 22-year-old Andrea's
kidneys.

"She was always a giver," Dick Dominguez said. "When I met Carl Payne, I
told him Andrea would have loved to have been here."

Payne and Rodriguez each spent about three years on the list of people
waiting for donated kidneys.

"The truth is I was giving up hope when they called me," Rodriguez said.
"Now that this has happened I am happy and I am back to my normal life. ...
I am very grateful."

Since he received the kidney seven weeks ago, Rodriguez has returned to
work. He and Payne were both given photos of Andrea at the event.
"I will always remember Andrea because she gave me the opportunity to keep
living," Rodriguez said.

When Payne received her right kidney, he was suffering from end-stage renal
disease. "I started to feel the difference in recovery" after the transplant, he
said.

Payne, 49, had been set to receive kidneys twice before but had not been
able to do so for medical reasons.

"When I got out of the hospital, I told them I really wanted to meet the
(donor's) family," he said. "Meeting them was uplifting. I've been waiting
for this day for two months."

Victoria Armendariz, regional client services coordinator for Southwest
Transplant Alliance in El Paso, said events like Sunday's can help donors'
families cope.

"During the time of the most suffering, they were asked if they would give
to others and they did," she said. "Now they can talk to people who have
lost and can understand what they're going through."

Koenia Flores donated the organs of her son, Samuel Adrian Moran, in March
of 2000 after he was killed in a hit-and-run accident. She attended her
first donors ceremony Sunday.

"Usually, the other side of my family celebrates the death, but I wanted to
celebrate his life," Moran's brother, Omar Moran, 21, said.

The family was among about 220 people who attended the event.
"I would be remiss if I didn't say ... that people need to consider organ
donation and talk about it," Dominguez said as a single tear slid down his
cheek.