SmashMouth

As an illegal immigrant, Jorge Mariscal waited eight years for a kidney transplant he feared would never come.



His persistence paid off Thursday when he underwent the procedure at Loyola University Medical Center.

After years of uncertainties, Mariscal said he's excited about his future and grateful for the help he received. But he remains frustrated with a health care system that he worries might leave out an untold number of illegal immigrants in need of lifesaving treatments.

"Why can't we be treated the same?" he asked while sitting in his hospital room. "Health care should be a human right, not a privilege. At least give us the chance to fight for our lives with dignity."

Mariscal's treatment is far from over. The pills he'll need to make sure his body doesn't reject the new organ can cost upward of $10,000 a year for the rest of his life. And paying for those, just like the surgery, is complicated by his immigration status.

Although Loyola agreed to cover the costs of the transplant, Mariscal will have to pay for the medicine. He applied for a grant through the Simon Bolivar Foundation, a medical nonprofit, that would help cover his first year of anti-rejection pills. But without health insurance, he expects he'll have to pay for most of his medication.

To get a head start on his future medical bills, Mariscal started raising money three years ago. Together with Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission in Little Village, he has raised thousands of dollars through benefit concerts and other events.

The Rev. Jose Landaverde, pastor of the mission, said he felt compelled by the Gospel to help Mariscal after hearing his story.

"Jorge is a lot of hope for the community," he said. "I believe that the Gospel moves us to be in solidarity with one another."

Aside from his help with fundraising, Landaverde organized a 21-day hunger strike in June against hospitals that denied transplants to patients because of their undocumented status.

Landaverde said that after the strike, in addition to Mariscal's treatment at Loyola, the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center agreed to evaluate Lorenzo Arroyo, another illegal immigrant, for a possible liver transplant. Rush University Medical Center also placed Arroyo's brother, Elfego, on a transplant waiting list. Both brothers suffer from primary amyloidosis, a genetic liver disease.

On Friday, Landaverde led a short prayer at the Little Village mission to celebrate Mariscal's successful surgery. Church member Hilda Burgos bowed her head as the pastor recited his prayer in Spanish.

"I feel so happy for Jorge but at the same time so sad for the Arroyo brothers," Burgos said afterward. "We still have a lot of work to do."

Mariscal moved from Mexico to the U.S. when he was 1 year old. Now as a 24-year-old graphic-design student, he considers it his home.

He says he nearly returned to Mexico after doctors said he wouldn't be able to receive a kidney transplant in the U.S. because he is undocumented. He first went on dialysis after he experienced renal failure at age 16. As his condition worsened, he knew only a transplant would help him feel better.

Now that his surgery is behind him, he said he's happy he stayed stateside.

"It feels great to have a second opportunity at life," Mariscal said. "It's an overwhelming feeling. I don't think I would have been happy in Mexico."

Mariscal's mother, Sonia Lopez, is equally excited about her son's recovery — and her own. She gave one of her kidneys to her son. Transplant surgeon Amy Lu said both mother and son are doing well and that the kidney is functioning.

After she recovers, Lopez said, she plans to walk from her home in Melrose Park to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines. She made the same 12-mile pilgrimage in August after Mariscal was approved for the transplant.

"If you ask the Virgin Mary for a miracle," she said while standing next to her son's hospital bed, "you have to give thanks."

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Srgt. Hulka

You left your dignity hanging on that fence you crawled over illegally breaking into my country!!!

OldMaid

"Mariscal's mother, Sonia Lopez, is equally excited about her son's recovery — and her own. She gave one of her kidneys to her son. Transplant surgeon Amy Lu said both mother and son are doing well and that the kidney is functioning."

Entire story.

He received a kidney from his mother.
He did not get one from the donor list.

That makes the story a bit different.

What medical ins.. for this, well, the donations he recieved from people who wanted to donate is one thing nd makes the story a bit different.

The USA govt. will pick up the rest. that is where, yeah, the problem is.

This story is a moot point.
This did not , in fairness , start with Obama and it is not going to end with him.

Illegal immigrants had it made in the shade.

USA does nothing but encourage this.
Bush #43 was friends with Fox, Pres . of Mexico.

What about in all those talks , deporting people back to Mexico?
Nah!!!!! What about him stopping his population ? Nah!!
How much is the USA sending to Mexico (Meh-he-co ) in foreign aid ?

That crazy nanny who sliced up those two lil kids in NYC is on the temp status , whatever from Domica ( Doh-mean-ne-ca).
The crazy woman should have never been here and yes, the superich parents of those lil kids should have hired an American from a good agency instead of trying to some some free labor from that crazy woman.

Crusader

I have question, it might be a little off topic but still. If he has been living in the country for 23-years and apparantly is a student somewhere does he never need a ID-card or such? Can you get one while not being a citizen? I remember I couldn't even get a temporary one (needed to get hunters licence) when I was an exchange student. What does it take to become a citizen? What is the proper way of going about it? What is the difference between a greencard and a citizenship?

SloMotion

Most states will give you a driver's license regardless of your immigrant status. As a green-card (permanent resident) holder, the only thing you basically can't do is vote or leave the country for an extended period of time. You can go on vacations, but if you don't live primarily in the US, they'll revoke your green card. I think you can petition immediate family members to receive green cards as a Permanent Residence (without having to be a naturalized citizen) also ... not entirely sure.

There's a few ways to go about becoming a citizen ... birth, birth abroad, through parents, marriage to a US citizen, or application ... you just got to put the time in, don't have any felonies & take the naturalization test.

My kids were 'birth-abroad' and their Mom went through the whole naturalization process ... it's quite a process.

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