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Author Topic: A student who gave his kidney to a cop could use a little help himself  (Read 3185 times)

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Offline Karol

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Ruben Rosario: A student who gave his kidney to a cop could use a little help himself

By Ruben Rosario
rrosario@pioneerpress.com
POSTED:   07/26/2014 01:09:16 PM CDT | UPDATED:   ABOUT 11 HOURS AGO

The average price for a kidney in the global black market runs about $150,000, according to one online site.

"Boy, that's a lot of money," said Sebastian Rivera, who gave one of his -- no charge -- to an ailing Minneapolis police officer this year.

I bring this out not because what the 21-year-old, part-time college student did is one heck of a human interest story. It's the kind that affirms your faith in humanity.

I want to make a point about the fallacy of branding and stereotyping a generation. I mostly buy into the estimated age ranges for the generations and not much else.

The baby boomers, which I fall into, are folks roughly born from 1946 to 1964. Gen Xers were born from 1965 through the early 1980s. The millennials, like Rivera, were born from the mid-1980s to early 2000s. I guess they will be followed by Gen Z, and then thankfully we will run out of letters.

Sure. There are economic, political, cultural and demographic characteristics among generations. There's even a faux Gen X and Gen Y rivalry, mostly among writers and navel gazers with too much time on their hands.

"Word that 6 million young people are not working or studying comes as no surprise to anyone with a millennial in the basement," Jennifer Graham wrote in the Boston Globe in 2013. "While their parents weren't looking, Generation X gave way to Generation Vex, an amiable, tech-savvy, yet minimally employable crop of Americans who ultimately will need more subsidies than a dairy farmer."

The rant elicited a response from millennial scribe Samantha Matt.

"They say we're lazy," she penned in the Huffington Post. "Entitled. Delusional. They think our parents' success has led to our 'failure' and that because we had nice things handed to us growing up, we don't know how to work hard to get nice things ourselves. ... They basically think that we just don't get it."

Now, all this is fun to read but frankly hogwash. I have yet to meet someone, say, on the streets of St. Paul's East Side or in North Minneapolis who tags themselves by these generational markers or even cares. To me, no generation has a copyright on what's one of the most important of human attributes that cuts across all age groups: what's in someone's heart when it comes to reaching out to another. Now back to Rivera.

CAR CRASH, TRANSPLANT, REPLACEMENT CAR

Rivera, then a full-time North Hennepin Community College student and Rogers resident, was scanning Facebook last September when he saw a plea for Carlos Escobar, 36, a six-year police veteran who had been waiting two years for a new kidney.

Something compelled him to check to see whether he was a match.

"I just felt it was the right thing to do," said Rivera, who later learned that his mother, Vanessa Cintron, and Escobar know each other from community work in Minneapolis. "I did not hesitate one minute."

While waiting for those test results, Rivera was in a car accident. On Dec. 28, a used car -- a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse with 140,000 miles -- that he'd bought to get him to school and a part-time job at a gas station skidded off an icy, snow-covered road as he drove to Elk River to fill out vehicle title paperwork. The car, which Rivera bought for $1,750, slammed "into the only tree on that stretch on the road," Rivera recalled this week. The car's body was toast and later junked. But Rivera salvaged the motor and transmission.

On Jan. 8, he got a call informing him he was the best match for Escobar. The two men met for the first time that week and underwent the transplant surgeries the following week.

"I still can't believe it. It's a great gift to say the least," Escobar told TV reporters after the surgery. "I will have a better opportunity now to live longer, you know, to enjoy the things that I like to do as a normal person."

Both men returned to work after a period of recovery. For his part, Escobar sent the word out about Rivera's car woes. The hat was passed, and Rivera was presented in March with another 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse, this one with 170,000 miles.

"I was so grateful they did that," he said. "But it sounded funny when I got it."

TOO MUCH TO REPAIR

A mechanic has informed Rivera that the car's motor is dying and will conk out soon. He needs the car to get to classes and two part-time jobs, and he was forced to drop one job this week at a Best Buy store in Blaine and pick up another one at the Albertville Mall, much closer to his home.

He has shopped around for prices for someone to switch his old car's motor and transmission. One independent mechanic said he would do it for $1,200 -- about $300 more than what the car is worth in mint condition. He checked auto shops and "they are asking for like, up to $3,000," he said.

Now this is where I get back to those generation stereotypes. Rivera did not call me about this. I met his mother through a mutual friend at a recent picnic. Someone else informed me about the young man's car troubles -- not his mother.

Rivera, who remains in contact with Escobar, initially was reluctant to talk with me about it.

He did not want to come off as unappreciative.

"I did not expect it (the car) and it has helped me get back and forth for now," Rivera said. "I have no regrets."

What was that again? Lazy, entitled, needs more subsidies than a dairy farmer? Not this kid.

Ruben Rosario can be reached at 651-228-5454 or rrosario@ pioneerpress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/nycrican.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_26218169/ruben-rosario-student-who-gave-his-kidney-cop
Daughter Jenna is 31 years old and was on dialysis.
7/17 She received a kidney from a living donor.
Please email us: kidney4jenna@gmail.com
Facebook for Jenna: https://www.facebook.com/WantedKidneyDonor
~ We are forever grateful to her 1st donor Patrice, who gave her 7 years of health and freedom

Offline Mkenya

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Someone people are generous to a fault. I cannot imagine how generous this one is. Only God can thank him enough.

 

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