Cuban Girl Finally Gets Father’s Kidney

Greta Blanco Caride beat the odds to make it to 12 years old. Today she has another fight for life ahead of her after receiving a kidney donated by her father.

The Cuban girl, who three years ago was on the verge of death, underwent eight hours of surgery Wednesday that also restored her bladder. Doctors cautioned she had a long, difficult recovery ahead.

“I think that with the help of God, everything will turn out well,” said the girl’s mother, Margarita Caride.

Greta was in critical condition at Jackson Children’s Hospital following the unusual combination operation. Her father, Alberto Blanco, was in stable condition.

He won a long fight with U.S. immigration officials for a humanitarian visa to enter the country for the operation and then had to wait a month and a half for Cuban government permission to leave.

Diagnosed with kidney disease soon after birth, Greta was blind, almost deaf and unable to move her limbs by the time she was rushed from Cuba to Miami in 1994. Doctors who first saw her frail, 26-pound frame thought she wouldn’t last a week.

Since then, she has rebounded, nearly doubling her weight and walking with assistance.