By: Rose Ybarra, The Enterprise

4/27/2008

Every night before she goes to sleep, Lawrencia Keys thinks about Sabrina Aguilar and her family and says a prayer for them.

Keys, 18, cares deeply about the family members and feels close to them, even though she's never met them.

"I think about them a lot," said Keys, a Port Arthur resident. "I always wonder if they are doing OK."

For more than two years, Keys has been waiting for her chance to say "Thank you" to Aguilar's family, and she will have that opportunity today in El Paso.

Sabrina Aguilar, a 15-year-old girl from Las Cruces, N.M., died in February 2006 from injuries she suffered in an all-terrain vehicle accident.

Aguilar's family chose to donate her organs, a move that saved Keys' life.

Keys, who was in failing health because of severe kidney damage, received Aguilar's right kidney.

Keys and her mother, Rolanda, will meet Aguilar's mother, Edna Guerra, and other family members in El Paso at 1 p.m. today at the Southwest Transplant Alliance's annual Donor Family Celebration, an event that brings together organ donor families and recipients for the first time.April is National Donate Life Month, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a month designated to create awareness about organ donation.

Keys said she has pictured the moment she meets Aguilar's family in her mind many times, but she's still not sure what to say to them.

"'Thank you' doesn't even begin to cover it," she said. "I don't know what I'm going to say. Hopefully, I will find the words."

Rolanda Keys said she particularly looks forward to meeting Aguilar's mother, Edna Guerra.

"I've been wanting to meet her for so long, ever since the transplant," Rolanda Keys said. "We've given Sabrina's mother her space, though. We know she's grieving."

Since the transplant, Lawrencia Keys no longer has to go to dialysis. She is a student at Lamar State College-Port Arthur, studying criminal justice.

She also is preparing to start her first job as a correctional officer at the Stiles Unit state penitentiary.

"I get to do things I never thought I'd be able to do, and it's because of Sabrina and her family," she said. "Before the transplant, my life wasn't my own. I was always tied down to my dialysis schedule."

Lawrencia Keys was born with the neural tube defect spina bifida, which led to bladder problems and severe kidney damage. Before the transplant, her prognosis was not good. She was not responding well to dialysis, and she confessed she was on the brink of giving up.

On Feb. 14, 2006, she was told her only option was an "arteriovenous graft," or artificial vein, which would have been installed in her arm.

"I didn't want to do it, and I didn't care what the consequences were," Lawrencia Keys said. "I was so tired."

It was that same day - Valentine's Day - that Lawrencia received the life-changing phone call.

"We were told they found a kidney for Lawrencia," Rolanda Keys said.

In addition to Lawrencia Keys, at least four others were given a second chance at life, thanks to Aguilar's family.

Pam Silvestri, public affairs director of the Southwest Transplant Alliance in Dallas, said the recipients of Aguilar's liver, pancreas, left kidney and heart valves are "doing well."

Many recipients and donor families never meet or communicate. Sometimes, the process is completely anonymous.

Today's reunion is possible because both Keys and Aguilar's family stated their intentions to exchange information.

Silvestri said she hopes stories like that of Lawrencia Keys will motivate individuals and families to choose organ donation.

"For those who are on the fence about organ donation, I hope this will change your mind," she said.

Silvestri also commended Guerra for making the decision to donate Aguilar's organs during such a difficult time.

"Edna lost her daughter and in the midst of her grief, she thought about another mother, and she chose to spare that mother the pain she was going through," Silvestri said.

Both Lawrencia and Rolanda Keys have high hopes for today's meeting.

"After we meet, I feel that we are going to be good friends," Rolanda Keys said. "I think everything is going to turn out great."

"I want to get to know the family a lot better and hopefully, develop a relationship beyond this visit," Lawrencia Keys. "I feel like they are family already."