Marcela's Story of Kidney Disease & Memorial Fund

Marcela Aguilar passed away on Friday, July 22nd, 2022, after a long 30 years of illness battle with Renal Kidney Disease. Her soul has entered God's Kingdom, but her heart will always be with us.

With that said, I want to share a little of her life story so you can see how important she is to me and what a beautiful, humble human she was, regardless of what her destiny had been written for her while she was here on earth.

My small family and I originally resided in Northern California many years ago. Marcela started having symptoms that affected her health; she lost both kidneys as a young girl. Our mother was a match and donated one of her kidneys in 1987 without any questions; with time, she was back at her regular life being a kid with no worries until things turned for the worst as we were traveling back from summer vacation with the family. Her doctor from San Francisco advised us we had to stop in San Diego and get her immediate care as her kidney was starting to have complications. A sudden relocation had to be done, and that’s how we resided in North County San Diego, to ensure her health would not deteriorate. Unfortunately, because our parents were not fluent in English and all of us siblings were so young, Marcela had her kidney removed without notice, and no proper explication was ever provided. She had to return to dialysis three times a week and be placed on the waiting list again. It was very heartbreaking, but they were told nothing could be done and felt defeated.

The treatment and medication had many effects on her body. It affected Marcela’s way of living once again; single, no children, not self-dependent, as she didn’t have the confidence or ability to have a normal lifestyle as we all do. Later in time, as a single mom, our mother had to care for her full-time to ensure she would make it to all her treatments, assist with medication, and day to day care. Years passed, and we got a call in 2001 and headed to San Diego as Marcela had obtained a match. She had hope; even when she was already in her mid-30s. Was once again happy all her prayers had been heard. We were scared but optimistic that things would change for the better good. We had to be very cautious as this was her second transplant, and many complications could occur since her body had already been slowly deteriorating from so much treatment. And then it happened; she had such a lousy infection over time that we had to choose to take a risk and treat her or have it removed to save her life. Ultimately she would need to return to dialysis and be placed on the waiting list again.

Marcela always saw things with an optimistic view; she went back to her treatment and continued to pray things would get good with time and that she would have another opportunity. Although, in recent years, we were told she would not be able to have her be placed on the list as she was a high-risk patient. Marcela had to live being on dialysis for the rest of her life. It was beyond difficult news to swallow, yet once again, she was okay and said, it’s okay, God has a plan for me. For those of you that don’t know, dialysis is a lot like a Cancer Patient, over time the treatment wears you body out internally and externally. She was not perfect, had her days when she was stubborn and wanted to cheat on her daily diet, we all do.

Until recently early this year, I took on the POA to ensure she was getting the proper care and treatment as she felt she wasn’t being treated properly at the centers. We can see that she was exhausted and caught Pneumonia alongside other complications from her treatment. In and out of the hospital and Post-Acute Care over the past few months, fighting for her life as much as possible. Wanting to go back home so bad with our mom and see her nieces and nephews which were her life. It was inevitable that her time had come, I could see it in her eyes, she was tired and ready to be reunited with our grandmother which she loved dearly. This by far is one of the hardest responsibilities I have taken on but have no regret as I have endless love for my dear sister. One of her last wishes was to be laid to rest alongside our grandmother in Mexico, and that is a promise I vow to keep.

So, there you have it, a little inside of my beautiful sister, she left me with the best lesson I could ever have, let me to allow God into my heart again, and let every pain I had in my heart go. I don’t expect anything from this, but I hope to share her story as it changed my way of seeing life. Look at your family, loved ones, and friends, consider what they are going through, and cherish who you have around you. As tomorrow is never promised.

A funeral mass service will be held at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on Fri, Aug 19th, at 2 pm to honor her life story. Marcela's final resting location will be in Zinapecuaro, Michoacan, Mexico. Friends are kindly invited to attend as we are a small family. In lieu of flowers, please send donations that will be used towards her funeral expenses for her final resting destination.

Thank you and God Bless,

MaryLu Aguilar