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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 While most teens were going to school, having fun and being regular teenagers, Yoali Rodriguez was gearing up for the battle of her life.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I just woke up one day and my mom noticed I looked really different,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cShe did not let me go to school. She was like, something is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Yoali Rodriguez, now 26, was diagnosed with kidney disease when she was only 14 years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to live,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI had so many plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Yoali Rodriguez received a kidney transplant more than a decade ago and went on to accomplish dreams she didn\u2019t think were possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been a transplant coordinator for 31 years,\u201d said Rob Warkentin, transplant coordinator at Kaiser Permanente. \u201cIt\u2019s been a real journey for me to be able to work with family members, with the patients, and to see wonderful outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through it all, Rodriguez never thought she would get married or have kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first got with my husband, I thought I couldn\u2019t have kids, and I told him,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI was like, hey, I\u2019m sorry, this is what I have, this is my history, the medical stuff \u2014 this is what I take.\u201d<\/p>\n