Kidney transplant leads to faith transformation

Friday, Aug. 15, 2014

MAGNA — Dialysis brought Father Javier Virgen to his knees.

It was not an unusual posture for the priest, who was ordained 21 years ago and currently serves as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Magna as well as the diocesan Vicar for Hispanic Affairs, but the anger he felt was new. After more than two years of kidney problems, he was hospitalized in April and told that he would have to begin dialysis.

Hearing the diagnosis, he lashed out at God, asking, “Why is this happening to me? I have a lot of things to do in the parish,’” he said. “I cried. I was impatient. I said, ‘Where are you? Why is this happening to me?’ … I came to the point where I said, ‘I don’t want the catheter, I don’t want dialysis, I don’t care if I die.’”

As the day wore on, he spent his anger and became calmer about his situation. 

“I accepted it in peace. I said, ‘No, this is not the way. Me as priest, as a Christian, as a Catholic, I shouldn’t have that attitude. This is God’s will. I embrace it, I will accept it peacefully. At that very moment, a lot of peace came into my heart,” said Fr. Virgen, who was born with one kidney smaller than the other. He also has a family history of hypertension, which affected his kidneys. 

At age 57, he would spend almost four months undergoing dialysis three days a week while waiting for a kidney transplant.  

During that time, he spent hours praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament, reflecting on his priesthood, his past life, his family and friends. 

“All those questions went through my mind, which was good, very good, for me to face them because that’s the way to realize that you value life, the faith, the priesthood, family and friends, the dialysis – everything.” he said, adding that dialysis became his friend in the sense that he realized it wasn’t good for him to hold onto his frustrations.

Meanwhile, his parish community prayed continually for him, brought him food, arranged for his transportation to and from dialysis and “cared for me as a human being and a priest,” he said.  “That energy which came from them – which is love – lifted me up and helped me to continue on in my life.”

Although he came to terms with his illness, he sometimes feared that he would have to continue dialysis for the rest of his life; finding a matching kidney was difficult because he has a rare blood type.

God, however, had the answer Fr. Virgen and his parishioners were praying for.

Heather Kamakana and her family have been members of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish for more than 10 years. When Fr. Virgen was assigned there in 2012, “I automatically felt a connection to him,” she said; when the priest announced he would need a kidney transplant, “it just came into my heart” to inquire if she was a match.

The process was fairly lengthy; Kamakana told no one except her husband that she was undergoing the testing to see if she was a compatible donor. 

When she was identified as a match, Kamakana and her husband sat down with their two teenage sons and told them that she might donate her kidney to Fr. Virgen; they told their 6-year-old daughter once the surgery was confirmed.

“They were very supportive; my husband has been very supportive from the very beginning,” said Kamakana, who decided to donate her kidney because “I thought, ‘This is so minimal compared to what Father Javier has done for me and my family.’”

The transplant coordinator gave the final confirmation on the Fourth of July weekend, while Kamakana was at her younger son’s ballgame. From there she and her husband went to the rectory to tell Fr. Virgen that he would receive a kidney from her. 

“I was in tears. I didn’t know what to say,” Fr. Virgen said, emotion choking his voice.

The surgery took place three months after he became ill. The procedure went so smoothly that Fr. Virgen was recovering in the ICU for only a few hours. Kamakana was home three days later.

Kamakana said she is thankful that she was able to show her children how to live the Gospel call to care for one another.

Fr. Virgen, too, is grateful; his illness has “been changing my life for the better,” he said. In addition to a deeper prayer life, “I value everything more than before. I value the people, I value my life, I value my priesthood, I value my brother priests, my family. It’s really changed me.”

He has realized that he is not super-human, but rather “weak like everyone else. … The one who does everything is God,” he said, adding that he has gained empathy for people who suffer.

Now he is looking forward to returning to his ministry, which he expects will be in November.

“I’m happy, I’m grateful, I’m at peace, and I cannot wait to start ministering again and to tell people ‘God loves us so much,’” he said.