BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — While most teens were going to school, having fun and being regular teenagers, Yoali Rodriguez was gearing up for the battle of her life.
Rodriguez, now 26, was only 14 years old when she found out she was seriously ill. She said the symptoms started with feeling tired and small spots that grew larger on her arms. So, she went to see a doctor.
“I think I just woke up one day and my mom noticed I looked really different,” Rodriguez said. “She did not let me go to school. She was like, something is going on.”
Doctors told Rodriguez she had acute kidney disease, had to go on dialysis, needed a transplant, and needed to take medication for the rest of her life. She said she was afraid but had motivation.
Yoali Rodriguez, now 26, was diagnosed with kidney disease when she was only 14 years old.
“I wanted to live,” Rodriguez said. “I had so many plans.”
Instead of attending high school and playing on her softball team, Rodriguez took a step back to better her health. She did dialysis for 10 hours each night for a year and a half, and before she knew it, she moved up on the list for a kidney transplant.
She received a kidney transplant in Southern California from a donor who tragically died when he was about 19 years old. Since then, she has been receiving care support at Kaiser Permanente in Bakersfield.
Yoali Rodriguez received a kidney transplant more than a decade ago and went on to accomplish dreams she didn’t think were possible.
“I’ve been a transplant coordinator for 31 years,” said Rob Warkentin, transplant coordinator at Kaiser Permanente. “It’s been a real journey for me to be able to work with family members, with the patients, and to see wonderful outcomes.”
Through it all, Rodriguez never thought she would get married or have kids.
“When I first got with my husband, I thought I couldn’t have kids, and I told him,” Rodriguez said. “I was like, hey, I’m sorry, this is what I have, this is my history, the medical stuff — this is what I take.”
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But now, she has a new outlook on life. She has a husband, a baby boy and one more on the way. She also has words of encouragement for anyone else who might find themselves in a similar health situation.
“There’s so much out there. Now we go out places because I don’t have to connect to a machine anymore,” Rodriguez said. “I go to the zoo with my son and my husband. I go to the beach. I can get wet, you know, when you have dialysis, you can’t do that.
“So just do what they tell you to do and take care of yourself, and the outcome will be really good. It’ll be great.”
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