My cousin Justin Reyes has had a rough life from the start. When he was born, right a way his liver was failing and was put on the list for a transplant. At only 6 months he received his new liver and was able to start his life. Throughout the years, he was able to be a relatively "regular kid" despite having to take medicine every day so his body wouldn't reject the liver.

Every now and then, he would get sick and be hospitalized but nothing too serious ever came up until he was 17. His medication was sort of a "Catch 22," because even though the medicine helped keep the liver going, it was at the same time destroying his kidneys. Slowly his kidneys were failing and again he was put on the transplant list.

After 3 years of waiting, Justin's body could not take it anymore and he had to start dialysis. For 6 months, every week he had to endure dialysis 3 hours a day for 3 days. Not to mention he was attending college at the same time. On April 25, 2008, our prayers were answered and he received a call for a possible match. The very next day, he received his new kidney. I am so happy for my cousin. I just want him to live a regular life and enjoy his time at college because those were some of my most memorable days. Justin deserves to experience that. He has been through way too much his whole life.

I have worked as an Event Manager for the National Kidney Foundation of Northern California & Northern Nevada for almost 2 years now. This has been the most personal and fulfilling job that I've had. At the end of the day I know that the work I put in is for some kind of cause, a cause that I can directly relate to. The money raised from my events, like the San Francisco Authors Luncheon and the Golden Gala, is used to help thousands of people out there who need a kidney transplant and millions who have Chronic Kidney Disease. It is my pleasure and is very self satisfying that I have in some way contributed in serving people in this community, people like my cousin.