Athletes tend to look back at their senior season hoping that they gave everything they had, but one Texas athlete will know for sure that she did.

According to a press release from UT Permian Basin, senior student softball athlete Abby Hernandez gave her brother the ultimate gift when she donated her kidney to her brother Oscar.

Oscar was diagnosed at young age with Nephrotic Syndrome, a disorder which causes the kidneys to pass too much protein in the urine. Oscar has been on dialysis for the past 7 years after a cadaver organ that he received stopped working. The Hernandez family hoped that they could donate one of their kidneys to Oscar, but unfortunately his parents and other siblings were not a match. At the time Abby was under the age of 21 and could not be tested or donate.

The family held out hope and joined the organ donor list themselves to see if they could help another person on the waitlist. Oscar even became a dialysis technician himself, and after 7 years of treatment I'm sure he was more than familiar with the process.

Once Abby turned 21, she knew that she wanted to be tested to see if she was a potential match for her brother. A few days after being tested, the results were in: Abby was, in fact, a match for Oscar.

Despite heading into her senior year,  and being the President of the UTPB Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as well as a Falcon Ambassador for the University, Abby knew what she had to do.

Abby discussed the operation with her softball coach, Tiala Tagaloa, and was met with support from her whole team.

“We’ve talked about it multiple times and I’ve checked on her and her brother,” said Tagaloa. “She told me about a year ago it was something she wanted to do and there was a possibility of it happening sooner than later. I’m still shocked at such an amazing thing she did. It’s so selfless how she’s able to step up big, not just for her brother but her whole family.”

The transplant was an immediate success and both Abby and her brother are handling recovery well. Abby is taking classes online and is hoping to return to the softball field in the spring.

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