Baylor St. Luke’s transplant center ranks high in minority recipients

Eric Figueroa, a successful salsa and Latin jazz artist, producer, composer and family man, spent nine years on dialysis because of polycystic kidney disease, a genetic condition that shut down his kidneys.

In 2017, he moved from Puerto Rico to Texas in hopes of getting better care. It was at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, part of St. Luke’s Health, that doctors told him he was a potential transplant candidate. St. Luke’s Health is part of CommonSpirit Health.

The transplant team at Baylor St. Luke’s guided Figueroa through the process of getting his name on the national waiting list for a donor kidney. They also worked with him on a nutrition plan that contributed to him losing about 100 pounds, improving his health along with his prospects for a successful transplant.

In April 2022, Figueroa got the call that he says changed his life. It was his transplant team alerting him that a suitable kidney was available. He underwent transplant surgery a day later.

These days, instead of spending the better part of three days each week connected to a dialysis machine and dealing with the resulting exhaustion even longer, the 63-year-old pursues his passions. He’s spending quality time with his wife, children and grandchildren. He’s also back at his piano, performing, composing and arranging music. Over the course of his musical career, he’s contributed to dozens of salsa and Latin jazz albums. He shared a 2002 Latin Grammy for arranging and producing a song on the album that won Best Merengue Album.

“I feel free, away from the machines,” Figueroa says. “And that has helped me so much, physically and also definitely mentally.”

Tackling disparities head on National figures show that Black and Hispanic Americans tend to make up a higher percentage of those on organ waiting lists than of those who receive transplants. Dr. John A. Goss, medical director of transplantation at Baylor St. Luke’s, says the medical center invests human resources to ensure that Latinos and patients from other minority groups have fair access to transplants.