Linda Ramos spent the last two years of high school in and out of hospitals, constantly sick and fatigued due to Type I juvenile diabetes. After she got married, a high-risk pregnancy caused congestive heart failure, shutting down her kidneys, threatening her with blindness. Linda learned about the very uncommon pancreas-only transplant, and after a two-year wait a donor's gift saved her life. "I can't believe the way I feel," affirmed Linda. "I cheer my daughter on at her events, and started running and have competed in over 55 road races. The 120,000 people on the waiting list deserve the same happy ending."

Linda's Story

At age 16, life as Linda Ramos had known it ended. Diagnosed with Type I juvenile diabetes, Linda went from a kid who lived a care-free life to a kid who had to monitor everything, from what she ate and drank to what she did on a daily basis. It was a tough adjustment for a teenager.

Constantly sick and fatigued, Linda spent the last two years of high school in and out of hospitals. But it wasn't until after she got married and became pregnant that her disease took a turn for the worst. Her diabetes made hers a high-risk pregnancy, and in her 26th week she developed full-blown toxemia. Linda had congestive heart failure and her kidneys shut down, and both Linda and her baby nearly died. Three months later, the retinas in both of her eyes started detaching, threatening her with complete blindness.

Linda underwent multiple surgeries, including one involving tissue donation, and was fortunate to keep vision in one eye. But a new condition, hypoglycemia unawareness – she could no longer detect her blood sugars dropping – was life-threatening. She would fall into seizures and convulsions with no warning.

"It was not uncommon to wake up with paramedics in my bedroom trying to save my life," recalled Linda. "The scene was always the same when I opened my eyes: my husband holding our daughter at the end of the bed waiting to see if I would gain consciousness. I was losing my independence, and I was a risk to drive or to just be left alone. I was only 33 years old with a new baby and a husband. I knew that one of these times my luck would run out."

"God began to drop people into my life with messages," said Linda. One of those messages was about a very uncommon type of transplant, a pancreas-only transplant. (Usually they are transplanted along with a kidney.) She was placed on the national organ transplant waiting list in April of 2001, and after two years, she received the call that a stranger's pancreas had been matched to her.

"My life now is amazing," affirmed Linda. "I can't believe the way I feel. Everything I do in life now is with passion. I cheer my daughter on at her events, and started running and have competed in over 55 road races. I am working as an occupational therapy assistant with beautiful young children."

One of her proudest accomplishments is volunteering with Gift of Hope to spread the word of the importance of organ and tissue donation. "While I want my story to touch people, my story is not about me," said Linda. "It is about the 120,000 people on the waiting list. They deserve the same happy ending."