Local mom donates kidney to San Diego mom

Candi Burquez donates kidney to San Diego mom

BY ALONZO OROZCO

Whether she’s calming local residents down through her Facebook reports during the Thomas Fire or incentivizing Franklin Trail goers to wear masks during the pandemic, local tax accountant Candi Burquez has always found a way to stay involved in the community. However, last Monday, Nov. 9, Burquez’ passion for helping, stretched south a few counties when the Carpinteria High School Class of ’85 grad donated her kidney to a 35-year-old mother with kidney disease in San Diego.

Burquez was inspired to become a kidney donor this past February, after a realization she had with her good friend, Ray Martinez. Martinez had been battling Stage Four cancer for six years, and had asked Burquez if she could drive him to a radiation appointment. Although he was in good spirits on the car ride there, his mood dampened on the return trip after the doctor had discussed with him

Local tax accountant Candi Burquez, left, donated her kidney to San Diego mom, Ava Best, right, who suffers from kidney disease.

the prospect of advanced life support measures. “If there was a body part or organ I could give him to save his life, I would in a heartbeat,” Burquez told her friend. Three weeks later, on March 1, Martinez died in his sleep.

In May, Burquez visited Martinez’ wife Janelle, and learned that their mutual friend Kat Pinedo was experiencing kidney failure and needed a donor. “A light went off in my head and I told Janelle about my conversation with Ray and about how I wish I could have saved his life,” said Burquez, “…and that I wanted to offer to be tested as a kidney donor for Kat.”

Burquez initiated the process—a long one which entailed several phone interviews and 26 vials of blood taken for tests—and soon learned that her blood type matched Pinedo’s. However, the very next day, Pinedo received a call that a matching, deceased donor kidney was available for her. Pinedo accepted it and had kidney transplant surgery on Friday of that same week.

“I was so happy for Kat, but the decision to be a donor was such an emotional and mental decision that I didn’t quite know what was next for me,” said Burquez, who decided to take a couple of weeks off to figure out if she wanted to look for another potential kidney recipient. She knew of a little boy in town, Forrest Holt, who was in need of a kidney. So, she reached out to his mom about possibly testing to be his donor. After checking with the boy’s team, she learned she wasn’t a donor candidate for Holt because of her age.

Burquez then joined the Live Kidney Donor Support page on Facebook. There she discovered an urgent need for her blood, Type O-positive. She soon learned of a woman in the group that was searching for a donor for her daughter, Aja Best, who had a four-year-old daughter in San Diego. Burquez, a mother herself of two sons, Alec and Daniel, knew this was the one. And, on Monday, Nov. 9, the transplant took place in San Diego with Burquez donating a kidney to Best.