Tara Hernandez

Type of Donation:      

Age and Location:      Age 44 – Temecula, CA

Date of Transplant:           09/07/2022

Sponsor:                      Honored by OneLegacy

TARA’S STORY

In March 2022, Tara saw a post on social media about a father of four in her community, who was in desperate need of a kidney transplant. It was her good friend Chris Wilson, whom she had known for more than 10 years, since their kids were in kindergarten. "I remember crying when I read the story," Tara recalls. "And thinking if this were my husband, I'd be devastated. I'd be doing everything in my power to find a donor." Tara immediately called and asked if she could be tested. Chris's wife Michelle explained Chris hasn't been feeling well. He thought he was dehydrated, but Michelle asked the ER doctors for a full scan. He was diagnosed with stage-5 kidney failure due to a kidney-attacking autoimmune disease. Chris joined the transplant list along with 100,000 others. It could take 11+ years for a kidney-but 11 years was longer than the time Chris had left.

Tara signed up to see if she was a match but needed to wait until her nine-month-old son turned one. The transplant center advised taking that time to ensure she was positive about donating. She called on her son's first birthday and said, "Let's go!" They posed a hypothetical: what if family needed a kidney but she had already donated? "I would hope there were more people willing to donate," Tara replied, "but I'd never regret giving the gift of life now" Chris began dialysis when the good news came: they were a 100% match!

Surgery was a success on September 7th, 2022. Tara's "Ferrari" kidney began working immediately. Now Chris can work, travel to his children's games and live the full life he deserves. If Tara had ten kidneys, she would donate nine more. Two years later, Tara became a OneLegacy ambassador, dedicating countless hours on a specialty team that decorates Rose Parade floats. She recently accepted a City Proclamation recognizing Donate Life Month, spoken at her local hospital, attended a hospital flag raising ceremony, set up/worked at the Slate of the City event, had breakfast with her mayor, and was the Southwest Women's Healthcare's Pink Dot donor mascot.