Liliana Quintanar gives her identical twin sister, Analia, the ‘gift of life’ For 18-year-old Liliana Quintanar, turning 18 brought her an opportunity that not many other teenagers even think of — the chance to donate a life-saving kidney to her identical twin sister who suffered from kidney problems her entire life. Eighteen is the minimum age limit a person must be in order to donate an organ. So, on Jan. 21, Liliana did just that — through UCLA Medical Center’s Pediatric Kidney Transplantation Program, she gave her sister, Analia Quintanar, the “gift of life.� When Analia was born, her doctors told her parents that if she didn’t receive a donated kidney within two weeks, she would need to go on dialysis to stay alive. At the same time, Analia’s parents received some happy news — Analia’s identical twin sister, Liliana, was born perfectly healthy. Analia didn’t receive the kidney she needed at birth. Instead, she was put on dialysis, which meant that every night her parents connected Analia to a dialysis machine that would exchange fluids in and out of her body for 10 hours as she slept. When Analia turned five, she was big enough to receive her mother’s kidney. It functioned well and allowed Analia to live her life free of dialysis; however, she needed to take immunosuppressant drugs every day. Then, 10 years later when Analia turned 15, the kidney her mother donated to her failed. She has been on dialysis ever since. Beyond its inconvenience and discomfort, dialysis in children can have several other adverse consequences that affect their quality of life. It could mean that children don’t grow as well, their bones could be weak and they could experience difficulty in concentrating. In addition, they have a greater risk for developing infection from catheters entering their bodies. Liliana Quintanar has watched her sister suffer. “Analia has been in and out of hospitals since the day she was born. I really don’t know how hard it is for her to go through all this because I don’t know what it’s like, but I try to understand,� Liliana said. “I decided to donate my kidney to my sister when I was 16 because I was so tired of seing her go through so much pain, but I wasn’t allowed to donate it until I turned 18. Analia and I turned 18 in July and on Jan. 21, I finally had the opportunity to donate my kidney to her. I know it will give her the opportunity to live a better life, which will make me and my family really happy.� “The fact that Analia and Liliana are identical twins provides a 99.8 percent chance that this kidney could last Analia for the rest of her life,� said Dr. Robert Ettenger, director of the Pediatric Renal Transplant Program at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital. “And because the donated kidney is from an identical twin, there will be no need for Analia to take immunosuppressant drugs.� “I’m so thankful for Liliana because if it wasn’t for her, I don’t know what I would have done,� Analia said. “Now I’m looking forward to moving ahead with a normal life.� Kidneys are vital to keeping people alive and healthy as they filter the blood and eliminate toxins from the body. Kidney failure becomes increasingly more prevalent as people age. Currently, there are more than 200,000 people in the United States who are on dialysis; less than 5 percent are children. And there are more than 40,000 people on the waiting list to receive a donated kidney. Of those who are fortunate enough to receive a donated kidney, the five-year survival rate is 80 percent, while the 10-year survival rate drops to 54 percent. The UCLA Pediatric Kidney Program is one of the most active and successful programs of its kind in the United States. The program has been in existence since 1980, and nearly 500 children, aged one to 21, have received kidney transplants. Since the program was initiated, UCLA’s transplant success rate has steadily improved, so that today the UCLA Pediatric Kidney Program has one of the highest cadaveric kidney transplantation success rates in the world. More information about the program can be found at www.healthcare.mednet.ucla.edu/transplant. UCLA Medical Center is a nonprofit, self-supporting 668-bed hospital providing patient care in all medical specialties. It is the primary teaching hospital for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.