By Theresa Douglass
Visalia Times Delta
PORTERVILLE, Calif. — Correctional officer Miguel Mejinez continues to work more than 60 hours a week even though one of his doctors told him he could go on permanent disability due to kidney failure.
“That’s not me,” he said.
He’s been on dialysis for two years. For four hours at a time, three days a week, he gets dialysis treatment at the Kaweah Delta Dialysis Center in Porterville. That’s a lot of time considering he has sole custody of his five children, ages 6-18.
Mejinez, 41, said he stays as positive as he can.
“I’m blessed because the teenagers help out,” he said.
His girlfriend, Camille Prince, helps out, too, he said. She’s been getting the word out that he needs a kidney to prolong his life.
Mejinez is on a waiting list for a kidney. With the rare blood type, O-negative, his donor pool is smaller than most. And his family members can’t donate a kidney because Type 1 Diabetes runs in his family, he said.
The donor has to have his blood type, he said.
A donated kidney can come from a deceased or living donor. For living donors, any healthy person can safely donate a kidney, according to the University of California website www.ucsfhealth.org .
Full story: Officer, father of five needs kidney