As highlighted by the acting managing director of the Reina Sofía hospital, Francisco Triviño, this Thursday at a press conference in which the transplant activity of the Reina Sofía in 2023 was reviewed, Cristina Vargas Rosa, a 66-year-old resident of El Puerto de Santa María, currently has her heart broken between Cordova and Cadiz. And that is because this woman from Cádiz, On January 6, 2023, he received the best gift from the Three Wise Men, the lung transplant he needed to be able to live without being connected to an oxygen machine day and night.
Christina, who had been diagnosed shortly before the pandemic coronavirus idiopathic pulmonary fibrosishas been one of the 80 patients who benefited last year from a record balance of lung grafts at the Córdoba hospital, which placed the Reina Sofía as the second center that performed the most grafts of this organ in all of Spain, only behind the Vall d’Hebron hospital, Barcelona.
“We are very satisfied with the donation and transplant figures, which have placed Córdoba at the forefront of precision medicine and innovation and, above all, on the podium of solidarity. It is something we are very proud of,” said Francisco Triviño.
Excited testimony
An emotional Cristina has contributed her testimony on this day at the Reina Sofía. This lung transplant patient has highlighted that “the protagonists of transplants are the donors and the medical team. I am one more link because I am living. It is very hard to see the light of day and I have it as a gift. “I will always be grateful to the donors and the Reina Sofía medical team.”
The transplant that this neighbor from El Puerto de Santa María received came on the third occasion that a compatible donor appeared. although just days apart. Just in case, she always carried a suitcase in the car for when they called her, never losing hope, although with her own concern of not knowing what she could expect. “My priority since the transplant is to be able to walk, clean myself and feed myself to remain well,” Cristina said, while she recalled that at the same timeBefore the graft, she suffered many infections, a lot of coughing, and was always exhausted from the treatments. This woman from Porto has encouraged the population to become an organ donor, because “thanks to her, many of us are living and I am grateful for having had this opportunity.”
“Spectacular data”
The head of the section of the lung transplant program at the Reina Sofía hospital, José Manuel Vaquero, has highlighted “the spectacular” lung transplant data from last year and has shown hope in not having “hit the ceiling” yetbecause the Reina Sofía had a program prepared before the pandemic, which has then been implemented and is the one that is bearing these fruits, allowing thehe annual balance of lung grafts has gone from around 40 per year, to 54 that were counted in 2022, until reaching 80 in 2023. “Our option is to continue working to have good results, having increased the indications for transplant and giving the maximum response to people who are waiting for a graft, as was the case with Cristina.”
