[upbeat music] [male VO] You're watching "Made in Texas."

- We were a migrant family.

- Used to go to Florida, go pick oranges in Florida.

- Pick tomatoes, pick cucumbers.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - My dad, he was always trying to make us strive for something bigger.

[upbeat music] [announcer speaking in Spanish] [Johnny speaking in Spanish] All right?

- To me and my brothers, we didn't think nothing was ever gonna stop us from getting to the top.

- They used to rub elbows with... - Los Tigres, Intocable.

- Selena y Los Dinos.

- Every time we have success, you know, something would go wrong.

[suspenseful music] - A lot of people think our story's about a band, but really it's about a bunch of brothers never giving up.

[soft guitar music] [Luis speaking in Spanish] [soft music] [Luis speaking in Spanish] [Luis speaking in Spanish] Ramon, Gilberto, Larry, y Fide.

- My dad, they grew up really, really poor in Carrizo, and he had to get out of school in third grade to help his mom with her and his little brother because their dad left.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry] You know, he made a little house, dirt floor for his mom and his little brother.

[Gilbert] He was our foundation.

It was just unity all the time, you know?

[Jerry] And he wasn't gonna have his kids grow up on their own like he did.

- One of our brothers passed away when he was two years old.

He died of pneumonia.

His name was Jose Adan.

[Jerry] My dad, he had a hard time.

He had a hard time with that.

- After Jose Adan's passing, my parents made it a mission to remind us we could get through anything together.

[Fide] We were a migrant family, traveling the country, following jobs.

[Larry] We used to go to, it was in Illinois.

Go pick watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, strawberries.

[Jerry] There's a lot of people who would do that for a living.

They would follow the seasons around.

- And Mom, Dad would be like, "If y'all see snakes or rattlesnakes, y'all run."

So man, we'd be running and we'd like, "You see anything, bro?

See anything?"

- Luis was a, he was a very hard worker.

Ramon was a hard worker.

Jerry was, he needed a little bit of pushing.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry laughing] - And once cassettes came in, you know, we'd carry a little cassette box with us and play music and just work it.

It made the day go by faster.

- And on Sundays we had one hour radio, Mexican music, one hour.

That's all they would give us.

And so when everybody from Texas came up, they'd bring us music.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry] Back then it was Ruben Vela.

Paulino Bernal.

[Luis] Los Alegres De Teran.

- Los Relampagos.

- Los Relampagos.

- Los Relampagos.

[upbeat music] [audience cheering] [Gilbert] Los Relampagos consisted of accordion player Ramon Ayala, and bajo sexto player and lead vocal was Cornelio Reyna.

[Jerry] They were like the Beatles to the Mexican people because they were awesome.

They were way ahead of their time the way they would play their music.

It was crazy.

When they come out with that stuff, phenomenal, I'll say they were like the Beatles, but they wouldn't serve them coffee at a restaurant.

- While the color line between white and Black was pretty clear everywhere in the South, it wasn't always clear if you were a Mexican.

And the only way you would know not to go in there was to find out.

[whistles blowing] [Jerry] I was 10 years old when we moved to Texas and we ended up in a town with an infamous sign that said, "No Mexicans allowed in the restaurant."

The future didn't look too bright in Dimmitt, Texas.

Not to us.

- Well, Dad was passionate about music, you know, it was funny 'cause he didn't know how to play anything as far as I know.

He didn't play no, you know, any kind of instruments.

But he loved music.

He loved to dance.

[Jerry] His compadre told him, "Hey, compadre, I have a little accordion for sale."

My dad bought it for 50 bucks.

Can you imagine?

- It was a big investment, but my dad, he was always thinking about his kids, always thinking about his kids, always trying to make us strive for something bigger.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - And he didn't learn it.

- He goes, "Out of my 11 kids, one of them has to pick it up, you know?"

[Jerry] I seen it on the bed and I start messing with it.

And I start getting little bits here and there.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry] And they would say, "Dad, Mom, get him outta here.

We can't watch TV."

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry] That's where I started the band with some school friends.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry] My dad said, "Nombre Los Arcos."

"Name the band Los Arcos."

And that's where it originated.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - The two older brothers, Luis and Jerry, were always having trouble with drummer and a bass player.

- A lot of drinking, you know, on stage.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - A lot of tantrums.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - And it just got to the point where, you know what, who better than my brothers?

I called my brother Ramon.

He was working at a Furr's Cafeteria in Victoria, Texas at the time.

I said, "Bro, get your butt over here 'cause you're gonna be our next drummer."

"What, me?

I don't know how to play."

You gonna learn how to play.

He go, "If you're serious, I'll quit my job right now."

So he quit his job that day, got on the bus the next morning, we picked him up, set him on the drum, this is what you're gonna do.

- So my brother Jerry said, "Well..." - 'Cause you're our next bass player.

[Gilbert] He took a guitar and made it into the bass, tuned it up, left me a piece of paper with the scales on it.

[Jerry] He looked at me like are you serious?

I'm serious.

You gonna play the bass with us 'cause we don't have a bass player.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - And we did a six-month tour in Mexico.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Luis speaking in Spanish] [Fide] They were out there, you know, hustling and trying to find their way, trying to find a name for themselves.

We were all hoping something big would happen for them.

- You know, there's this one place called the Garibaldi.

Corneilo Reyna, The Beatles.

Corneilo Reyna, he stopped there.

He saw us playing.

So he went to camerino which is the dressing room.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Gilbert] My brother Ramon was excited.

That was overwhelming to meet Corneilo Reyna in person.

- It's like a dream come true for me.

It made me more driving.

We gotta keep going.

Look who we're recording with.

They're our idols.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - We didn't think nothing was ever gonna stop us from getting to the top.

[singing in Spanish] Ramon was always pushing me.

And we practiced till my, my fingers bled.

[Jerry] As soon as we crossed the back into Texas, I'm gonna say within the next two weeks, we're already in the recording studio with Hacienda Records.

[Gilbert] Recording a bunch of albums helps us to get well known.

[soft music] [Jerry] We would do two a year, two albums a year.

You know, we were recording like crazy.

[Gilbert] Sometimes there's just a song they call a fill-in song.

And that's the one that hits.

[Jerry] "El Borracho Del Ano" was original Juan Sifuentes.

He used to sing for Conjunto Bernal - I thought, I mean, I thought it was, but, you know.

- Yeah, pretty much.

[singing in Spanish] [Jerry] Then we start going out more into the states.

I mean, we were just going out because of that song.

- Playing in front of eight, 9,000 people.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - You know, I was bringing my mom and dad money home, you know, so I was like, eh, school is...

I really didn't, I thought I didn't need it.

But, school's good.

Stay in school.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - For the Mexican American, Johnny Canales was the equivalent of Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" back then.

It was Johnny Canales.

He was national.

[upbeat music] - Johnny Canales is almost back.

Come on.

- We're the only group from West Texas called by Johnny Canales.

- My brothers were excited, Johnny Canales, man.

- When we did that show with Johnny Canales, I was roaming the halls like any kid would do.

Went to the lobby, here comes this girl, looked up, it was Selena.

We started talking, had a little conversation, and then her brother walks in.

"Hey, Selena, we're up."

She goes, "Okay.

Nice meeting you.

Good luck."

[singing in Spanish] [Fide] I was at home.

We were, Mom and Dad, all of us were watching.

We recorded it and they watched it back 100 times.

[Tejano music ending] [Johnny speaking in Spanish] - That's all we had time for is music.

We played Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, whatever.

I mean, we were gone.

We had no time to practice.

- Whatever the boys needed, the guys needed, Dad and Mom were like on board.

They needed a roadie, you know, "Go ahead, Fide you know, they need help, go help 'em."

- Anybody that can lift anything heavy, come join the road crew.

And it was me, Oscar, Fide, Nunoboy.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - So, Nunoboy and I, Luis III, my brother, we grew up together.

I took on the responsibility pretty quick, man.

And like, I literally, I was like 16 years old driving, you know, with the equipment in it, you know, I was young.

- The one thing we did it for to keep him off the streets, to keep him out of trouble.

- I didn't care if we got paid or not.

I just wanted to be out there.

School would start and we wouldn't show up till a week later because the tour wasn't over.

The tour wasn't over.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - Detroit, Michigan.

- Mexico.

- North Carolina, South Carolina.

- Marion, Indiana.

- And I'd be working the lights like I was actually doing something, you know what I mean?

I'd be like, "Yeah, man."

It looked like a circus, I guess.

And Jerry or June would look at me like.

- There was this one time where this guy kind of shoved me, and I told Nunoboy about it.

And sure enough, Nunoboy told him, "Hey, you know, what do you got a problem with my brother?"

And we walked further along down the street to a neighborhood and they duked it out.

[laughing] And he said, "Don't be messing with my brother."

- We would always travel in a pack.

We'd never leave each other.

You know, it was always together.

My brother Ramon, he was very protective.

He was very, he would take care of us.

- When he would leave his drums unattended, I would get up there and beat 'em.

He said I would leave dings on him.

He would get a little bit upset with me but... - One time during the winter, I was sleeping.

Here he comes knocking on the door.

[knocking] "Hey bro, let's go see who we can pull outta the snow."

I was like, "Bro, are you serious?"

He goes, "Yeah."

And we would go around Dimmitt.

Whoever was stuck in the snow, we would pull him out just because he wanted to help somebody.

- Him and Ramon had a tight bond, of course being the backbone of the band for a long time.

[Gilbert] We'd get two rooms, three rooms.

Ramon is in one room.

The two oldest, Luis and Jerry, and me and Ramon.

[Larry] Mom was more, she would always worry about us, you know, and dad would always be, you know, those are my boys, you know, those are my boys up there jamming.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry] We started out as a migrant family and we became the entertainment for all the migrant families.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - Larry started playing sax at school.

And then my brother Fide was learning the keyboards really, really well.

- Not much was said, you know.

Me and Fide were, let's do it, man.

We were like we couldn't wait to get the practice.

[Fide] La Mafia was, they were fixing to go nationwide with their keyboard sound.

And also Conjunto Primavera were fixing to become very big with the sax sound.

- The potential was there.

I mean, we were ready to take on the world.

- We did two or three shows together, all of us.

And people really enjoyed it 'cause it was a lot of cumbia.

And in our style, what we had, so they was like a combo type thing but all brothers.

- I prayed.

I had dreams about it that one day we'd all be, you know, jamming out together, you know, big stages.

- Yes.

Definitely.

I would've loved to have heard it, you know?

- My brother, I mean, he would be playing drums.

I'd go back there, "What's wrong, brother?"

"Oh.

My back's hurting, bro.

My back's hurting."

[Jerry] All this touring that we were doing, he didn't want us to stop because of him.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - And my brother's like, "No, I'm not leaving here until you find out what's wrong with me."

[Jerry] Bro, you're gonna be fine.

You're gonna be fine.

You're gonna get outta here and we're gonna keep going.

"Oh, who's playing?"

I go, "Fide's playing."

- When I started to fill in for Ramon, I thought this is temporary because he's gonna pull out of it and everything's gonna go back to normal and I'll go back to my keyboards.

[Jerry] He had a tumor in his colon and became cancer.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - And still like that, I was like, "He's gonna be all right.

He has to be all right.

He's our brother.

He's my brother, he's my big brother."

- And he wasn't ready.

He wasn't ready to go.

- He was there and then already sick as it was.

He goes, "Bro, I better eat these fruits.

I need to get better, bro."

I said, "Yeah bro, eat that and start feeling better."

And days after that, you know... he was, he was gone.

[Jerry] Twenty-six years old, my little brother, man.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - And my brother broke it up.

We gotta go tell mom and dad.

You know how hard that was for us?

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - We sang at his funeral, we played.

[solemn music] [Fide] I remember there were so many people there.

It was crazy.

So many people.

- I couldn't go see him.

I didn't want to see him for the last time like that.

So I didn't go in.

[solemn music] - Dad, Mom, what do you want us to do?

He goes, "Mijo, your brother Ramon would've wanted you to keep going.

Don't stop."

"Are you sure Mom, Dad?"

"Yep."

- They almost didn't start it up again.

They almost just let it... - It was hard to take that first step to hey, we gotta get back on the horse, guys, you know?

- We wanted to show Ramon's kids and our kids and the whole family that just because you lose a loved one doesn't mean you lose your dreams.

[soft music] - I stopped playing.

I didn't, I didn't pick up a sax for a long time.

[Jerry] We've been out three, four years, we're not doing nothing.

[Fide] After you lose somebody like that, you know, the more family we had on stage, the better.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Luis speaking in Spanish] [Nunoboy singing in Spanish] [Fide] I mean, when he first jumped on stage, they dubbed me as the lead roadie, I guess, you know?

And that's the way it stayed.

- They decided, well, Fide, Fide's a good drummer.

- Brother Ramon, man.

I don't think he even knew that he showed me how to play drums.

[upbeat music] - Looking back there, not seeing Ramon, you know, I would just go behind the, the speaker and just ball.

- And it just took one of us to start crying.

You got the whole band crying on stage.

Couldn't help it, just couldn't help it.

And I was like, "Hell yeah, bro."

- Nunoboy, he was really excited.

I know that.

'Cause that's what he had always wanted, you know, he always wanted to record.

[Fide] "Me Enamore De Ti", we hoped that it was gonna be our comeback song.

- I was scheduled to record it.

And, at the studio, he goes, "Tio, I want to record it."

I said, "Okay mijo, you record it, but if we start having trouble, we're gonna pull you out and I'm gonna finish it."

One take is all it took, that's how awesome he was.

[Nunoboy singing in Spanish] [Luis speaking in Spanish] - People thought we were, you know, we had split up because of my brother.

You know, a lot of people think we couldn't continue.

So it was like they forgot about us.

- Promoters, eh, let's get the new.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry] We even tried branding new names like Los Hermanos Pena, our nickname The West Texas Boys.

It barely made a difference.

[Fide] We said, the boys are back.

We were excited about the whole album.

You know, we don't know how many people really heard the album.

[soft music] - What are we doing wrong?

Couldn't figure it out but... [Fide] Sometimes it was real tough to keep the dream alive.

- Nunoboy was gonna do what he was gonna do.

That's just who he was, you know?

And Nuno just said, you know, "I'm out and I'm gonna go do something else."

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - I thought, yeah, he can bust outta here and do his own thing because he was that good.

- I didn't want him to go for sure 'cause he was a big asset to our group.

[Larry] In or out of the band, he's still our family.

We still support him.

- He did, he went to go record with other bands.

He sounded great.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] [Fide] Nunoboy joined the saxophone band.

So I had an idea.

- Fide asked me one day, he's like, "Hey bro, we need a sax player."

And I was like, "Well, if I hear of a good one, I'll let you know."

He's like, "Hey dude, I'm talking about you, bro.

Come on."

[Oscar] I was excited.

I was happy for my brother.

He always wanted to do it too.

- When I finally got the hang of it, they were like, "Okay, he's good."

Yeah, like yeah, okay, we can leave him alone now."

- And my dad loved it.

So I said, "Well, heck yeah.

Come on, bro."

You know, everything we do, we do for Mom and Dad, you know, for their dream and for us too, of course.

[Fide] People really loved it.

We did real good with saxophone Norteño.

Every time we have success, you know, something would go wrong.

- My dad, he had gotten sick from his throat and he couldn't sing.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] They told him not to talk at all, to limit his talking 'cause he's gonna have surgery or whatever.

And everybody was scared.

- He would carry a chalkboard.

He would write whatever he needed to say and be like-- [Fide] Well, you could tell that he was scared, but he wouldn't show it.

I could see it.

- Since day one, we've always been united.

- And we stopped for a little bit.

- 'Cause I didn't think he was ever gonna sing again.

He didn't think he was ever gonna sing again.

It was like, it was a big deal.

- For that period of time that the doctor told him, he didn't speak a word, man.

That's when me and him really got along.

[laughing] [Luis laughing] - Tio Jerry was like, and I told him, you know, I can sing, you know, if you need me to sing or whatever.

He goes, "Yeah, we'll try it out."

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - Of course, I wasn't Nunoboy, because Nunoboy was awesome, you know, he's got different voice above anybody.

- So then, of course, Oscar became another big asset to the crew because of his vocals.

- All I remember is he got up there and started singing.

He was gonna try it, see how his vocal was.

And I remember I started crying.

- He pulled through, man.

Like I said, he showed you that chalkboard and some of it you couldn't read very well, but... [Fide] Nunoboy's health issues really held his career back.

- He had a hard time taking care of himself.

- He was diabetic.

[speaking in Spanish] - It affected him because his diabetes, he had type one diabetes.

- He'd get weak and couldn't perform.

- The doctor said, "You know, well, you're going into kidney failure."

And I gave him a kidney.

He needed it.

I had it.

I gave it to him and that was that.

- No questions asked.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - I wish you didn't have to do this.

I said, "Well, it's not a question bro, you know, it's like..." [clicks] You got me.

I did it because, I mean, he's my brother, and, uh, I'd do it again.

But... [Fide] At the end of the day, mijo, you know, end of the week, whatever, I knew he would be back.

- We got him in the studio and when he was in the studio, he was, like I said, he was magical, man.

And like picked up where he left off with us, you know, that's what I felt.

[Jerry] The album that we all did together.

It landed us on the Billboard charts.

First one ever.

- Back in the day, the dream was to get everybody up there and not to have him finally jump on the stage, it was... [Luis speaking in Spanish] [Jerry] My dad would say, "Man, all my kids are different.

I love you all."

- We were his pride and joy.

So he didn't care.

There was five people there, there was a thousand people there.

As long as he seen his boys on stage, he was happy.

- Dad was very proud of us.

And he would tell us.

- All he wanted me was for y'all to do way better than me.

And when him and mom left, they knew that everybody had their own homes.

Everybody bought their own house.

Everybody would set, everybody was doing good.

All of us.

[Fide] If that's all we ever achieved, that's good enough for me.

[gentle music] [Tejano music] - And their story is so unique for being in West Texas.

I mean, they do stuff that, it was very innovative, it was very ahead of its time.

- Us being together every day, you know, every weekend.

It was nice.

That was my dream was to play with my brothers, you know?

And I accomplished that.

You know?

[Fide] We did plenty of big stages with Larry.

[Larry] Anything after that was, was a win for me.

[Luis speaking in Spanish] - You know, but Nunoboy, he tried to live life to the fullest, you know?

And he lived for about eight years with that kidney.

You know, it's just, it was hard man.

And he just said, you know, "Thank you."

That's all he ever said.

That's all he said, man, "thank you."

[sobbing] [upbeat music] [Jerry] No band lasts forever, but our love for each other will.

[Fide] And we're still one family.

[Jerry] The dream continues.

[camera clicks] [upbeat Tejano music] ♪ Ay ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - I think if people understood the idea of a mechanical option or something else that's gonna come through research is 10 plus years away and there's nobody right now who is in desperate need of a kidney who is going to last that long.

[gentle music] Howdy everybody?

Chet Garner here to let you know about a new series created right here in the Lone Star State to celebrate the spirit, the talent and the stories that are made in Texas.

So join us as we dive into a vibrant world of Texas filmmakers where creativity knows no bounds and every story has a unique flavor.

So don't miss "Made in Texas."

Coming soon to your favorite Texas PBS station.

[female reporter] We have Mark here and he's doing this wonderful bike ride.

- ...to promote kidney donations they dubbed it their Organ Trail.

[female reporter] After a chance meeting at a bar, Mark Scotch donated his kidney.

[news anchor] But Mark started researching how to become a donor-- - Sadly, here in the U.S., about 13 people die every day.

- For national kidney month, it's only fitting that we highlight a story-- - Scotch just hit the road once again to advocate for kidney donations.

In September 2020, Scotch met a man-- [crosstalk] [intense music] [Mark] I always say if we can save one life, that's worth it.

[intense music] My goal is to have a consistent message.

Keep it very clear, simple.

People can donate a kidney, save someone's life and live a normal life.

That's really all I'm trying to prove.

[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [gentle wind blowing] - He is a 21-year-old in a 67-year-old body.

[laughs] He has more energy and more power than anybody I know.

- Mark is a fun-loving, adventurous.

- Often refer to Mark as a freak of nature.

- We affectionately call him a freak of nature.

[Tim] Because of the amazing things that he does between his arrowhead ultra marathon events, his long-distance biking, and just the, all the things he does, he just takes to an extreme level and enjoys it to the max.

[rhythmic percussion music] [pump clicking] [Wife] This is gonna be here for a while.

That's your pump.

[Pat] Have to make this as comfortable as possible Yeah.

I found out about my kidney problems when I was 25.

They said you'd be on dialysis in five to seven years.

We immediately went to a low salt diet.

I tried to exercise more and we just prayed and by God's grace, um, I didn't have to go on dialysis until I was, whatever, 63 or something.

- Yeah, 62.

- Yeah, 62, and so, so I got to live all of that life.

I got to work and I got to have a family.

We got to travel.

I traveled with work quite a bit.

And so, it's actually, I've had a wonderful life, you know?

I've got to do all of these different things and it wasn't till I retired that I went on dialysis.

- Well, when you're retired, you can do whatever the hell you wanna do.

That's the thing, right?

Well, just about anyway.

[Kathryn] I think the biggest awareness that maybe we or people as donors need to know is just how much kidney disease is in the United States and in the world.

I think 100,000 new people are diagnosed every year with kidney disease and one in five of those people will not make it in the next five years.

- End stage kidney disease is, basically means that you're, somebody's kidneys fail and they start dialysis and then, it's basically, they are dialysis dependent till they get a transplant.

- And it does just a part of what a kidney can do but enough to keep you alive, which is great, you know?

Without this, people died, you know?

And even on dialysis, I think the statistic is like 13 people die a day.

It just is harder on your body 'cause your body builds up these electrolytes, builds up this fluid and then, all of the sudden, during the treatment, it's taken off.

So, you're building up, building up and then, boom.

Building up, building up, building up and then it takes it out.

Where your kidneys are doing it all the time, so it's nice and even.

I'm hopefully on it until I get a transplant.

We're hoping and praying a transplant comes soon.

I've been on dialysis for three years now.

So, I'm hoping maybe this year, I'll get a transplant and then, I won't have to be on the machine.

So, I would have a kidney that does, does this stuff 24/7.

And so, that's what I'm hoping for.

[light breeze blowing] - Dialysis, over all, is a solution.

It's not a complete solution 'cause you're still stuck through dialysis.

You have to do dialysis.

You know you have risk factors too, that is higher for cardiovascular death if you're on dialysis then a kidney transplant.

In fact, the best way to do a kidney transplant really is to get a kidney transplant when your kidney function falls below 20 percent, before you reach your fall limit even before you go on dialysis.

Those people live longer if you have a living donor.

- I think that not a lot of people know that life after donation is normal.

I think that's what also Mark is trying to bring aware.

We make sure that we keep the donor safe and that it's a good decision for them to donate.

Life after donation is not any different from life before donation.

People sometimes get worked up for being a donor and find out that they only have one kidney themself.

But that one kidney after donation picks up all the work and these people that are donors are able to live normal, healthy lives.

- There's really nothing holding us back as a community of people in this country to fix that problem.

We don't need more legislation.

We don't need our government to do anything for us.

Everything is in place.

We just have to have people come forward.

That's all we need.

[bell ringing] Cheering section of one!

- Yeah!

- Hey.

- Hi.

So initially, I went live on the registry in November of 2020 and at that time, the voucher program had two branches.

One was a standard voucher where you name one individual and that's what Mark did with Hugh.

And the other one was called a family voucher and you could name, the form allows for up to five family members.

You could name your family members so that having given a kidney to someone else, if any of those five family members ever needed a kidney, the first one that might need a kidney could use this voucher.

It never expired.

By the time I got through all the hurdles in my journey and I was going to be going live on the registry again, they had combined the two programs.

So you can still name family members, but you also can name a primary recipient as your voucher holder and typically, that person's the one that needs a kidney right now.

So, that person's gonna redeem the voucher.

I didn't think too much about it.

I did continue to have our six children, our three children and three grandchildren named on my voucher, but I knew that I would name as the primary voucher holder somebody who needed a kidney now.

- I think if people understood the fact that we actually, 99 plus percent of us have a second kidney and that one is enough to function in our body, I think if we, if that word was really out there and people truly understood that, I think we could get rid of this backlog out of this 90,000, 100,000 people who are in desperate search of a kidney right now.

And I think it would be just a, I'm hoping that's where we end up with.

I think that's really the goal because the idea of a mechanical option or something else that's gonna come through research is 10 plus years away and there's nobody right now who is in desperate need of a kidney who is going to last that long.

It's a death sentence.

They get so many years and either they get a new kidney or they don't.

[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - I was born with toxemia and they, my parents, didn't find out till I was about four years old.

By then, I was real sick.

So, they just did exploratory surgery on me and they found-- they were just doing all kinds of tests on me.

So then, I ended up being catheterized and having to carry a foley bag as a, for a young girl.

However, back then, you know, of course, people, I think they don't really know, they didn't really know the extent of my illness.

So, I carried the cath, that catheter and the foley bag for 19 years.

Then, as I became a young adult, I ended up going to see an internal medicine doctor and that's when they told me that I, my system was so poisoned at that point because my kidneys weren't functioning.

They put me on some real strong medicine to basically detox my body in order to even put me on dialysis.

So, that's pretty strange in itself because when you're on dialysis, that's what you go in for, to clear up all your impurities and all the toxins.

Then, of course, the next question was, I was basically dying.

I was gonna have to live on dialysis because if I didn't find a donor.

So, when my parent came from out of town to visit me in the hospital 'cause I lived in San Antonio and my parents lived out of town, they told my mom that I was going to need a kidney and I was gonna need it soon.

[people chattering] [traffic passing] [water flowing] [wind blowing] [waves rolling on shore] - You know, you know full well but not all of em are gonna get a kidney.

You know full well that they're not healthy enough to even get a kidney.

You don't know their situation, if they're trying to get a kidney.

You don't know if they're on deceased.

You know, you just don't know anything about these people.

All you know is that they're on dialysis and it's a, it's a slow death.

I've already said that and to be able to see it firsthand, it really, you know, brings home a lot of what we're doing.

I don't know what I could do.

I can't do any more.

I just feel more.

I've always wanted to do The Organ Trail the best we can.

People say, "Well, what do you expect?"

I don't know what to expect.

All I know is that I'm gonna do everything I can.

I try to get every print and every media that we can and I contacted just about every transplant hospital on the route.

I couldn't get em all but I'm just trying to do it all and whatever happens happens and whatever we've got to go with and we just keep going.

[light music] [Lynn] We had learned enough and heard enough heartbreaking stories and looked into enough people's eyes who were desperately searching for a kidney.

And I knew the power of the voucher being able to help two people with the actual kidney going to one person and somebody else getting the voucher.

I knew that was the route that I wanted to go.

[clank] [creaking] [Mark] Thank you.

[Dr. Saim ]The most common one in the United States is in-center dialysis where the patient goes to our dialysis unit three times a week, roughly four hours of this treatment.

That whole day is pretty much waking up, getting ready, going to the dialysis unit, getting a treatment, recovering from the treatment, coming home.

The patients are very tired and fatigued that day.

Next day, they feel a little better but, the day after, dialysis again.

So, it really affects their quality of life.

It affects their survival.

You know, they have a higher morbidity and mortality also.

So it's a very hard way of living and these people, if they're able to benefit from kidney transplant, that can change their lives.

[light music] - You know, looking at ourselves all the time.

We're always kinda had that conversation in our head and whenever we start to, oh woe is me, you know, it's pretty simple just to look around and see a lot of people have it a lot worse than we do.

I'm doing this self-imposed, actually, so I really don't have anything to complain about.

People that are on dialysis or cancer or anything like that, I mean, it's, to me, it's just unfathomable how they can keep their spirits up and their hope.

And it does drive me somewhat.

It makes me appreciate my health.

I can always stop and take a break.

Nobody's forcing me to do this.

So, I think about Pat O'Brien who came out and rode with me from Albuquerque a lot.

I mean, there's a guy that's trying his best to find a kidney.

He's on dialysis.

He's still pluggin' along every day and 'cause I've gotten to know him a little bit, it's, it's inspiring but it's even more than that.

It's kind of a life lesson that life isn't fair.

I mean, it just is not fair.

No matter how you look at it.

For those of us that got the better end of the deal, we should pay attention to that and possibly help other people that haven't got that luck.

[laughing] - I am one of the oldest kidney recipients which was given by a living donor which was my half-brother.

My mother couldn't 'cause she had a history of just a lot of, you know, illnesses.

And my Dad, you know, come to find out at that age, I was 24 and a half, I find out my dad's not my real dad.

[laughs] So, he couldn't donate.

So, my brother was behind my dad and he tells them, he tells the doctor, "Well, what about me?"

And the doctor, my brother being strong and healthy and he played football and all that, they said, "Oh yeah."

You know, he says, "So, let's get you tested."

Ironically enough, we were a perfect half-match.

You know, a perfect match is a four-match but we were half-matched.

I've lived a full life.

I've coached, I've played sports.

I've played competitive sports.

I did all kinds of things.

So, the fact that I wasn't raised as a victim of my illness was to my dad.

I give my dad that credit because he raised me that way.

[light music] [cheering] [light music] - We wanna esteem you today for your work on saving lives through organ donations.

It's so important that we elevate awareness around organ donating and even being a living donor as well.

I was just sharing-- - I get energized when I'm around Mark.

Just to get the word out, you know?

Once again, I don't go around to all of my friends and say, "I really need a kidney.

Will you give me a kidney?"

But it's just continuing to get the word out that there's a need and I'm not the only person with that need.

But to get that word out, you know, being around Mark, it just kind of encourages me and it energizes me to wanna do that more.

[Mark] The real why is that everybody handles pain differently in their life.

At some point in time, everybody's gonna go through a time in their life where it's very hard.

Whether or not, you know, for us, maybe it was our son dying at 15 months old and we don't get into it a lot publicly.

When I met Hugh, I was going through a time in my life where there's some things that were meshing.

I just retired.

I was, my mind was open to wanting to do something new maybe, something different.

I was open to just anything.

My mind was, well, I wasn't focusing on my job and my responsibilities.

So, I was willing to be open and I was trying to make up for some of the things that I did wrong, that I knew I did wrong, that I, you know, maybe wasn't the best person I could've been at that time.

And when I met Hugh, I was going through a very introspective time where I saw a person in front of me that needed help.

I had never seen anybody before that needed dialysis or told me they needed a kidney.

I instantly felt I don't really care if the odds are that it could, surgery I could die because my life isn't any more important than anybody else's.

Come to find out, the odds aren't as bad as I thought they were initially.

I mean, I've made the statement many times.

I'm sure I'm in more danger riding my bike than I am on the operating room having a kid-- donating a kidney.

I'm positive of that.

And it was, of course, the fact that my sister-in-law had donated.

It was the fact that Jason, our son who died, and I know Lynn had always wished we could've done something.

And I thought maybe this is a gift I can give Lynn.

It's just, it sounds hokey, but it was really there.

She's given me a lot over the years, so I wanted to give, I could see a way to give her something possibly.

The fact that she donated herself, she gave it herself.

I mean, it's more than I could give, ever give her, she did for herself.

- Lynn, you're also a God send.

Have you ever met Cooper?

- No.

We had left Wisconsin on the latest-- I say Cooper just kind of fell into our laps.

It just, because of the history with losing our young son, that just kind of reached out and grabbed me and we made contact with Katie, Cooper's mom, and found out that a number of people had come forward but for various reasons, were not going to be able to donate.

And we learned things like he had already suffered a leg fracture.

The steroids that people and these kids have to take, as well as the dialysis itself, is very detrimental to the body and to the bones in particular.

And you don't get that back.

If you get a kidney or you're able to get off dialysis, that does not come back.

That is permanent.

So, it was vital that he needed a kidney soon.

So, we decided that that was, Cooper was going to be my voucher recipient and it just felt very right for a lot of reasons.

And through the two and a half years that it took me to make this journey from an evaluation to donation, toward the latter part of that, I would wonder, you know, maybe that's not supposed to be something that, that's not gonna be a door that I'm able to go through.

It's not gonna open for me for whatever reason and I can't second guess why.

I just, if it happens, it'll happen and if it's not supposed to happen, it just won't.

When I look back now, I found out that Cooper's birthday is November 10th of 2020 and that's about the same time that I first went on the registry live as a donor and immediately after that, the living donor program temporarily shut down at University of Wisconsin because of COVID.

And for a while, I would think, if they had moved a little faster, I would've been done before, you know, COVID really got bad.

But now, I feel like everything happens for a reason and I wasn't able to donate back then because Cooper was just being born and he was gonna need a donor down the road.

And the similarity in age between Cooper and our son that passed away at 15 and a half months, it just, it felt right all the way around.

[light music] [Ana Maria] I don't take it for granted one bit.

Every day, I get up and I lean forward and I put my feet, I sit up and I just thank God for another day in this crazy world we live in.

But I do, you know, I thank God, you know, for each day and if my story can help someone else either be a donor to sign that little card on your driver's license or if a living, you wanna be a living donor, you know, this is what happened.

This is the other side of what happens.

And I feel, you know, I feel tremendously blessed.

In April, it'll be 45 years.

You know, I was able to have a son a year later.

Against all odds, I might mention.

And then, I was blessed with my grandchildren.

So, I was given life.

I gave life and my life has given life.

So, you know, how blessed can that be?

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [upbeat music]