March 28, 2010
BY LISA DONOVAN Cook County Reporter ldonovan@suntimes.com
“Hello my angel,’’ a weak but smiling Myra de la Vega called out to Dan Coyne today as he walked in to her hospital room and took a seat beside her.
A day earlier, Coyne donated his left kidney to the ailing de la Vega at Northwestern University Hospital, a procedure she has said will extend her life 25 to 30 years.
Their noon visit was the first time they had talked since Friday’s surgery, which Coyne said appears to be a success based on conversations he’s had with medical staff.
The two sat next to each other in de la Vega’s hospital room, as Coyne told her about his morning: a shower and shave, breakfast — and a dozen laps around the 11th floor of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Except for a little discomfort, he said he felt fine.
“Oh, I envy you,’’ de la Vega told Coyne as news reporters glimpsed their reunion. Slightly reclined in a chair and with a pillow over her stomach, she told him she was a bit nauseous from the pain medication but was otherwise okay. “It felt so great to sleep, I slept so well,” she told him, “and I felt a burst of energy” upon awakening this morning.
The two met years ago at an Evanston Jewel-Osco where the 49-year-old de la Vega was a cashier. Coyne, 52, a Chicago Public Schools social worker, always picked her check-out line after shopping because “she always looked everyone in the eye and had a smile.’’
But in recent years, he noticed she looked thinner, pale, ailing. So he asked the mother of two why; he learned she was diagnosed with renal failure. After consulting with his wife and two children, Coyne decided to “do the right thing’’ and underwent testing to see if he was a match. He was.
As the two talked briefly today, Coyne told de la Vega his kidney was a bit oversized for her petite frame.
“My kidney was so big, I think they had to move some things around in there,” he said, pointing to her stomach.
Later, he was preparing to pack up and check out of his 11th floor room. De la Vega, who was in a room a few doors down the corridor, is expected to go home next week, hospital officials said.
Coyne now wants to get the word out about the 84,000 people in the U.S. who need kidney donations. Certainly, family donors are more common, but in de la Vega’s case there wasn’t a relative that matched her available. He wants to encourage people to give if they are able.
His life has been changed, too.
“I have a sister now. I expect that we’ll be sharing holidays and special events in the many years to come.”