Boca Raton artist inspired to create new works after donating a kidney to save his wife

A routine blood test sent Melissa Delgado's world spinning. The Boca Raton-based real-estate manager and mother of two had no history of kidney disease, no apparent symptoms — and yet that routine test in 2021 revealed that both of her kidneys were failing.

“It was a silent, deadly diagnosis,” Delgado, 50, said.

The path ahead was certain to be filled with medical challenges and a potentially tragic ending, but Delgado wasn't traveling that path alone. She was supported by her husband, artist Gabriel Delgado — who it turns out would have a larger-than-expected role to play in her recovery.

Kidney disease is particularly quiet.

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According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, early-stage kidney disease usually has no symptoms, and many people don’t know they have chronic kidney disease until it is more advanced.

In the U.S., the disease affects more than 1 in 7 adults, or approximately 37 million Americans, according to the institute's figures. Some people have health issues that put them at greater risk, including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and a family history of kidney failure.

It is a disease that can be treated, but the only cure is a transplant — which can come from a living donor.

Typically, a donor must be 18 years old, in good physical and mental health and have kidneys that are in good working order. And that's just the preliminary qualifications. Donors undergo tests to determine whether they and the recipient have compatible organ tissue.

The chances of Melissa Delgado finding a match in her husband were small — roughly 1 in 100,000. But Gabriel Delgado, 47, proved to have just what his wife needed, and in June, he saved her life by donating a kidney.

“It was an amazing feeling knowing I could save her life — it was like winning the lottery,” Gabriel Delgado said.

Many steps before kidney donation

While it's exciting to be able to save a loved one, it is a step not to be taken lightly. Gabriel Delgado joined the Donor Shield program, which provides assistance, support and protections for living donors through the National Kidney Registry. The medical team at Memorial Transplant Institute in Hollywood even cautioned him that might find himself second-guessing his decision to undergo surgery, although those doubts never materialized, he said.

“I was a bit anxious before the procedure,” he remembered, noting that he had a laparoscopic procedure to remove his kidney, which is less invasive and results in a quicker recuperation time — usually one or two weeks. Instead, he was focused on Melissa's recovery.

“I thought of my wife, my kids, their lives, our family and always knew deep down that was the only decision I needed to make,” he said.

“This is a wonderful story of a husband who wanted to help his wife and give back life to her and their family,” said Dr. Linda Chen, part of the Delgados’ medical team and surgical director of the Living Donor & Pediatric Abdominal Transplant Program at Memorial Transplant Institute.

Not only was it remarkable that Gabriel was a good match for donation, but also the donation between spouses was unusual in other ways, Chen said. Living donations among families are uncommon. Also, in the U.S., it’s more common for women to donate a kidney to a child and less common for a man to donate to a woman, Chen said.

“Giving an anatomical gift and being a living donor is the Rolls-Royce of transplantation,” she said. “Both recipient and donor have an improvement in their quality of life.”

Chen said most people are on a waiting list for three to six years for a kidney. In the U.S., fewer than a third of those kidneys for transplants come from living donors. The payoffs are big for the recipients. Patients who receive a living kidney have a five-fold decrease in death rates compared with dialysis patients.

Chen said she hopes the Delgados’ story brings more awareness to the issue of living donors and the fact that they are a safe and effective.

Couple want to pay it forward through art

For the Delgados, it was the best way to continue a long love story.

An artist, curator and owner of Delgado Consulting and Appraising, Gabriel Delgado was installing an art show in Houston in 1999 when the two first met. Melissa dropped by to see a mutual friend and Gabriel Delgado asked for her phone number.

They became friends but didn’t begin dating until a year later when they moved together to Oakland, California. In 2006, they got married on the beach in Half Moon Bay and returned to Texas to start a family.

A decade later, they relocated to Boca Raton where Gabriel Delgado continued his art career with themed artworks exploring contemporary, social and political events.

Gabriel Delgado is best known for art using a mix of drawing and painting to express political and social justice themes such as equality, war and natural resources. After donating his kidney, he was inspired to create a new series of works titled “Sacrifice.”

With this series, Delgado hopes to raise money for transplant patients when his work debuts in December during Art Miami with Burgess Modern + Contemporary gallery.

A percentage of the sales will be donated to The Memorial Transplant Institute and The National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO).

“I want to share my hope with others and to make a positive contribution to the world," the artist said, adding that the works on display will "show my appreciation for everyone involved in the kidney transplant process for Melissa and me.”

Melissa Delgado has high hopes for the show.

“So many others helped us and we want to do the same for them, to encourage other kidney donations,” she said. “It's so meaningful and life-affirming, we want to do what we can to bring attention to this issue.

“You could literally say our meeting and marrying was a love match for the ages.”

If you go

Burgess Modern + Contemporary will host a special reception from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, in their Art Miami 2023 booth, in honor of Delgado, his wife, and family.

Members of the Memorial Transplant Institute's Surgical Team and associates, including representatives from The National Kidney Donation Organization, will be in attendance.

For more information, visit burgesscontemporary.com or gabrieldelgadoart.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boca Raton artist donates kidney to wife, plans transplant fundraiser art show