Dr. Martha Gonzalez de Vidal

Type of Donation:          lung recipient

Age and Location:          Age 67 – Hermosa Beach, CA

Donation Date:             2/08/2022

Sponsor:                   Honored by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

MARTHA’S STORY

Martha Gonzalez De Vidal, also known as Dr. Martha Vidal, was born in Mexico City in 1955. Growing up in a very hard working family, she learned the values that have helped in her life and profession, in raising her family and most recently helping her overcome the difficult time she experienced throughout her year and a half long battle after contracting COVID19.

Martha went to Medical School and did part of her residency training in Mexico City. After she graduated in 1980, she married her husband and they moved to Houston Texas. Martha and her husband raised their two daughters while he worked two and three jobs so Martha could be a mom and take care of their kids until they started school. Martha then went to nursing school, earned her RN, and worked at the Harris County Hospital in Houston. That is where she met a doctor who helped her to go back to medicine. Martha worked in research and was a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine. She was accepted and enrolled in the residency program at The University of Texas in Galveston. After graduating and completing her boards, the family moved to California where she established her practice in Obstetrics and Gynecology in South LA. Since 2003 Martha has delivered hundreds, maybe thousands of babies in her community, and has helped many women with their gynecological ailments.

Martha was a very active person working 24/7, being a wife, a mom, a sister, a friend to anybody in need until December 22 of 2020 when she tested positive for COVID19. She started to get sick, went to the ER, and a few days later was admitted to the hospital with all the respiratory symptoms of COVID. She received many treatments without any response, and fortunately was transferred to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where she was admitted for evaluation for a lung transplant. After being hospitalized for a total of five months in various hospitals, she was sent home to finish rehab and get in good enough shape to qualify for a lung transplant. In September she qualified, she was placed on the waiting list, and fortunately in February 2022, a match donor was available.

Martha says, “There are no words to describe how grateful I am to the donor family, the Donate Life organization, all the doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers and all the ancillary service people at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, who have helped me through the process.” She is also very grateful to her daughter Lili, who left everything at home in Houston to stay with her and help her through this difficult time, and her loving husband Raul, who was always there for her. Hoping to someday have the strength to go back to work, Dr. Vidal knows her patients are missing her, and she misses them. “Now that I have a new life with my new healthy lungs, I will enjoy this life with my husband, my daughter, and my grandkids, who are also a gift from God.”

Martha would like to express her thanks to the donors and the donor families for the gift of life, the Gift of Life organization for their efforts and work, to Cedars Sinai Medical Center for all of the excellent care that they have provided, and special thanks to OneLegacy for making all this possible.