RICKY RIVERA


Twice Grateful

Ricardo and Laura Rivera are doubly grateful for their son’s life. Twice, he has received a new heart.

Three weeks after little Ricky was born in 1996, he was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy – a condition where the heart cavity is enlarged and stretched, preventing the normal pumping of blood. He received a new heart at only six months of age.

Everything was fine for several years. Then his heart succumbed to transplant coronary artery disease and began failing. Ricky, now eight years old, was so weak he was confined to a wheelchair. In the summer of 2004, the family traveled to Houston for a weekend check-up, and stayed for three years. Upon seeing Ricky’s fragile condition, the doctors immediately admitted Ricky to the hospital. Ricardo commuted back and forth from his job in San Antonio, while Laura stayed at her son’s side.

After six months in the hospital, Ricky received his second donated heart on November 7, 2004.

Since then, Ricardo and Laura have volunteered with transplant organizations such as Texas Organ Sharing Alliance and Transplants for Children. Ricardo believes people in South Texas still need a lot of education when it comes to transplantation. “There’s a myth that if someone donates his organs, there can’t be a funeral. That’s not true.” In fact, after any donation, the body is carefully reconstructed in a surgical procedure so that an open casket funeral is possible.

Ricky is now a 5th grader at Raba Elementary in San Antonio. He collects comic books, likes wrestling magazines and would like to join the army someday.

His mother Laura says, “I thank every donor family I meet. What a difference this donation makes to us as parents. Now my son can walk, run and play. He’s doing very well. Someone gave my son life.”