On Jan. 16, Bakersfield College student Rose Rodriquez had surgery, but it wasn’t to benefit her. It was for her brother.

Rodriquez, 21, who is currently a culinary major, donated her kidney to her brother Joseph Rodriquez, 27.

“When my brother was 3, he was diagnosed with hydronephrosis, which is what messed up his kidney,” Rose said. “They took one out and saved the other with a ureter re-transplant.”

That first transplant took place when Joseph was 15, but Rose said that he needed certain medication that was hard to get without insurance.

She said the insurance was hard to get with a major pre-existing condition. A couple years, she said, the transplant was no good, and on May 2, 2008 Joe was put on dialysis.

Dialysis is the process for removing waste and excess water from the blood. This means going to the hospital throughout the week, Rodriquez explained. In her brother’s case, he goes three times a week.

“I wanted to give my brother my kidney when I was 17, but my parents wanted me to wait,” Rose said.

“At 18, I tried again but doctors wanted me to wait till I was done growing so they said when I was 21. In October 2012 they did a cross-match test, turns out I was a perfect match 6 out of 6. They asked if I wanted to continue and I, of course, said yes. So they scheduled three days of testing.”

Rodriquez underwent tests ranging from blood samples, urine samples and X-rays, as well as meeting with urologists, nephrologists, psychologists and surgeons.

“I had to talk to psychologists because they wanted to make sure this is what I wanted to do,” she said, “if they felt I was being forced into it or didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t have let me go through with the surgery. That was stressful.”

Before the surgery, Rodriquez explained what she had to do to prepare. “Two weeks before the surgery, I had to stop drinking carbonated drinks,” she said. “Then two days before I had a clear liquids diet, which sucked so bad.”

On Jan. 16, Rodriquez checked into UCLA medical center and went under. A few hours later, her brother received his sister’s kidney without difficulty.

After spending the night, Rodriquez was discharged to an outpatient hotel, then she returned home while her brother stayed for four more days to be monitored. Joseph Rodriquez returned home on Jan. 20.

“My biggest fear was something would go wrong and his body would reject it.  Now that it’s all over, I’m happy for him. He doesn’t have to do dialysis anymore. That was a real drag on his body. I’m glad he gets his nights back and in a way his life back.”