A year ago, Christine Hernandez and Eileen Kerlin Walsh were total strangers. Now, Hernandez is hoping to one day visit Kerlin Walsh’s family in Ireland.
Hernandez, 51, had spent the past eight years doing everything she could to find a kidney donor — from passing out business cards with her story to showcasing her search on billboards along highways. She had been among more than 3,700 people in Illinois who were waiting for a kidney transplant.
Kerlin Walsh read about Hernandez’s journey last fall in the Chicago Sun-Times. She was struck by the idea that Hernandez was searching for a miracle, and that Hernandez still held out hope despite the many setbacks she experienced.
“And I just thought, ‘What an opportunity, what a privilege to be somebody’s miracle,’” Kerlin Walsh said.
Hernandez, now living with a new kidney thanks to a transplant in April, sees a connection with Kerlin Walsh akin to a “lifelong sisterhood.” People typically nickname their donated organ, and Hernandez decided to call her kidney “Miracle.”
“I didn’t know if I was ever going to have a chance to have a life again,” she said, “and to be able to enjoy life like I used to.”
‘Held my own feet to the fire’
Kerlin Walsh’s late mother had deeply believed in miracles.
Before her mother died in 2021, the two had gone on pilgrimages to healing apparition sites, spanning from Rome to the Knock Shrine in Ireland. The trips were a way for Kerlin Walsh to spend time with her mother because being one of 12 children meant she didn’t get very much alone time with her.
She thinks her mother played a role in her decision to become a kidney donor.
“I never felt that I lived up to her faith,” she said, tearing up. “Something about this … gives me the opportunity to maybe be my mother’s daughter.”
Other factors convinced Kerlin Walsh to become Hernandez’s donor, too. They had the same blood type. Both were mothers to similarly aged children. And she read about Hernandez’s journey a month after turning 60.
The milestone made her reflect on her own life. She made a video about her accomplishments and about how she wanted to spend the next chapter of her life giving back.
“I watched it and rewatched it and really asked myself what I meant by that,” she said. “Held my own feet to the fire.”
More challenges than finding a donor
Kerlin Walsh reached out to UI Health in October to apply to become a kidney donor for Hernandez. She eventually received a letter in February confirming she was a match. She told her husband and children about her decision but held off from telling others.
Finding a donor was only one of Hernandez’s hurdles. She had a rare form of kidney disease known as MUC1. And she had extremely high levels of antibodies, which created a higher risk for her body to reject a kidney transplant.
The medical team at UI Health used a medication called Imlifidase that has helped patients like Hernandez successfully undergo a transplant by breaking down antibodies.
The drug has been approved for use by health authorities in Europe, the U.K. and Australia. But its maker, Swedish company Hansa Biopharma, is still in the process of getting approval through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Lorenzo Gallon, director of the Abdominal Organ Transplant Program at UI Health, said it took about three months to get two vials of the medication through a process known as compassionate use. Gallon said he believes Hernandez is the first person in Illinois to get a transplant with Imlifidase.
‘I just loved her instantly’
Kerlin Walsh was sitting in the waiting room of UI Health about a week before the transplant when she heard Hernandez’s name called. They hadn’t met before.
“This lady in front of me just walks up and away, and my heart was pounding,” Kerlin Walsh recalls. “And I thought, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, that’s her. She’s right in front me. Should I say something to her?’”
She asked a nurse if donors and recipients typically meet, but the nurse said they don’t unless it happens by accident. Kerlin Walsh shared that she saw Hernandez in the waiting area. After talking to Hernandez, the nurse brought the women together.
Hernandez and Kerlin Walsh both remember hugging and crying. They talked about their families and exchanged phone numbers. The women started occasionally texting.
“I just loved her instantly, and I know she loved me, too,” Kerlin Walsh said.
Doctors administered one of the Imlifidase vials on April 9, and the concerning antibodies were no longer detected, Gallon said. That gave doctors a short window of time to perform the transplant.
Hernandez prayed with her children before the surgery, worried she wouldn’t make it.
“It was scary,” she said. “You are going to go into this big surgery, knowing that I was high-risk. But I was going to go through with it. Just put all my faith in God and my doctors — I trusted them.”
Kerlin Walsh said reality didn’t set in until about 10 minutes before the surgery.
“I just started sobbing because the fear really kicked in and then also the relief,” Kerlin Walsh said. “Because I didn’t want to leave the hospital that day not having made this donation.”
‘I never lost my faith’
Nearly a month after the surgery, Hernandez is back home in suburban River Grove. She’s wearing face masks to minimize exposure to anything that could derail her recovery, and she’s still going to the hospital every other day for checkups.
It could take another three to six months before she’s considered cleared. In a year, she can start to think of traveling outside of the United States, Hernandez said.
Dr. Gallon, of UI Health, said Hernandez is “almost out of the woods,” and they are closely monitoring her to make sure she doesn’t regress.
Kerlin Walsh is also back home in suburban Oak Lawn recovering from the surgery. The days after the surgery were a bit painful, but she was slowly starting to feel like herself. She took time off from work to recover, though she planned to spend some of that time working on her book.
“I just realized this was the final chapter of my book, and this was my final story of miracles and pilgrimages and faith and family and my tribute to my mother,” she said.
Hernandez is hopeful she will feel well enough one day soon to grab coffee with Kerlin Walsh and get to know her more. She wants to take a vacation with her children, maybe to visit family in Puerto Rico or Disneyland. She is eager to get back into advocacy, saying she wants to become a champion for others seeking organ donations.
“I feel like I have a calling to help people get out of this nightmare called dialysis,” she said.
Faith has also been a big part of Hernandez’s journey, and she thinks the positivity she maintained helped her after so many years of searching for a donor.
“I never lost my faith,” she said.
Hernandez’s family recently treated her to dinner at her favorite Peruvian restaurant to celebrate her birthday. One of her sons gifted her a framed painting depicting the moment when Kerlin Walsh checked in on Hernandez after the transplant. Both women are looking at each other, holding each other’s hands.