‘Now we are biological father and son’, says first kidney transplant in the Amazon, with the adoptive father’s kidney

If donating is an act of love, in the life of Antonio Jocimar da Silva, 55 years old, together with his adopted son Luciano Lopes, 35 years old, this expression became even more striking in a heroic attitude: Luciano received the donation of a kidney from his own father , in a procedure carried out, for the first time, in the public health network of Amazonas carried out by the Unified Health System (SUS).

In a delicate and high-risk way, the transplant marked the history of the family that, in this month of celebration of Father’s Day, demonstrates the value of paternal love that puts one’s own life to the test. This trajectory of affection began when Luciano arrived in Jocimar’s life, at the age of 2 months, due to Luciano’s biological mother not being able to take care of him due to financial difficulties at the time.

Since then, the affective bond has become part of Jocimar’s life, who also has a 33-year-old biological daughter. This care and attention has always been the characteristic of Jocimar with Luciano, encouraging the practice of sports, studies and work, at all stages.

But life has prepared obstacles on this journey. After having twice contracted Covid-19, in 2021, Luciano had sequelae of the disease in both kidneys, even having organ failure. From then on, a battle for survival was part of his routine. The hemodialysis process started to be done after Luciano was hospitalized and in a coma, at the 28 de Agosto Hospital and Emergency Room, a unit linked to the Amazonas State Health Secretariat (SES-AM).

The treatment lasted two years, being performed three times a week, lasting almost four hours. “He was always very present in my life; when I got sick I came to his house; and when I was between life and death, we became even more united, since I spent a period of two years in a very delicate way with hemodialysis”recalls Luciano.

In this timeline, Luciano became a patient of the “RespirAR” program, of the Government of Amazonas, which deals with the sequelae left by Covid-19 in patients who have already recovered from the disease. He was selected, in the first quarter of 2023, to participate in the state’s kidney transplant program, due to his health condition. But for that, a compatible donor was needed to perform the transplant. That’s when Jocimar volunteered to be a donor. Examinations and cross-match tests were performed and compatibility for donation was confirmed.

“I had already told him that I would be his donor. And his sister, Amanda da Silva, also said that she was a donor. And when we did the test that confirmed my status as a donor, I was very happy. I didn’t think twice, and I was happy because I could be his donor”,

said Jocimar, who had to leave his job as a refrigeration assistant due to the surgical procedure.

A new life

After three months of intense tests carried out at the Hospital Delphina Rinaldi Abdel Aziz, in the Colônia Terra Nova neighborhood, north of Manaus, a health unit that is a reference in this type of procedure in the state, the surgery was performed on July 5, with great success. .

Jocimar was discharged first than Luciano, due to post-surgical procedures. On July 20, for the first time, a health unit of the Government of Amazonas used the sign: “Attention, emerald code!”, which indicates the discharge of a kidney transplant patient. It was Luciano leaving the hospital, and the beginning of a new life to be traversed from that day forward.

“The day he was discharged was a great joy. I was anxious because he was hospitalized, in the ICU. Before, he was my son at heart, and from that donation, from my kidney to him, he has a part of me inside him; now he is my blood son; my love is even greater. When we go through these situations and manage to win, love and affection grow towards each other; we have even more love

said Jocimar quite moved.

Luciano Lopes, who is also the father of two boys, shared his feelings with his ‘biological’ father. “There is no explanation of love from father to son. The father is a hero; he was my hero and is being my hero; and this serves as an example to me as a son; apart from affection and love, there was nothing biological, but with the transplant we can now say that we are biological father and son”.

There is no shortage of plans and projects for Luciano Lopes.

“Hemodialysis gave me a chance to stay alive; the transplant became my new life; now I have the chance to continue my goals as a man, father, son, and return to the job market, go back to school and be a new person”, he said.

For this Father’s Day, both Jocimar and Luciano express the same life lesson. “You have to have a lot of love; and my love for my son is very great; the greatest happiness is to see my son happy without suffering; and I feel happy to have given that part of myself to him.”

“It is a love that has no size or explanation; who has his father alive, family and people you love, hug more and love more; say you love; kiss more; the uncertainty of tomorrow is a doubt in our life; I love you very much, my father. Every son has his father as a hero and you are my hero”, said Luciano to Jocimar.

Surgical procedure

Kidney transplantation is a treatment for patients diagnosed with chronic renal failure, with the patient on dialysis or even in the pre-dialysis phase. Consultations with transplant patients for pre-transplant evaluation began in April, after establishing criteria for scheduling via the regulatory complex.

The outpatient clinic designed exclusively at the Delphina Aziz Hospital for transplant patients was inaugurated in December 2022. The service started with people who had already performed the procedures in other states, who were previously accompanied by another health unit. Currently, Amazonas has about a thousand patients on dialysis and about 700 patients enrolled in other states who, from now on, will be able to perform the procedures in their own state.

On July 19, the Government of Amazonas performed two more kidney transplant surgeries in the public health network of the State, through the SUS. Both procedures took place at the Delphina Aziz Hospital and Emergency Room. Transplants are the result of donations between mothers and children.

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