Supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz was at a high risk for heart
complications at the age of 22. Now 39, he still is.
Hollister – Supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz was at a high risk for heart complications at the age of 22. Now 39, he still is.
That’s because he has no functioning kidneys and has been on a waiting list for a transplant since 2000. If he reaches the top of the list and goes forward with surgery, it would be the second kidney transplant for the District 5 supervisor-elect, who narrowly won the March election.
De La Cruz disclosed the health problem this week in an interview with the Free Lance. His kidney failure stems from chronic high blood pressure, he said, though doctors don’t know how the trait originated.
Although he acknowledged remaining at a high risk for further complications, he didn’t feel obligated to reveal the problem during his campaign for the March election. De La Cruz doesn’t view it as an obstacle to his duties as a county supervisor. He’s also on the Gavilan College Board of Trustees and the San Benito County Water District board.
He’s going public now, six months after the election, he said, because it’s an opportunity to educate the public “that there are people who have disabilities that can work.” De La Cruz also works part-time as an accountant.
He acknowledged some may view the health problem as a hindrance to fulfilling his Board of Supervisors duties. But he thinks most people have become more accepting of such disabilities, he said.
“If somebody wants to challenge my ability, I’m willing to do a five-course physical,” De La Cruz said.
The kidney failure, however, undoubtedly affects his day-to-day life. De La Cruz hasn’t urinated in four years. He can’t.
Every night for nine hours he hooks himself up to a dialysis machine, which acts in place of his kidneys by cleaning his blood and filtering out waste. Because he chooses to use a home dialysis machine every night – instead of the other option, going to a lab for treatment three times a week – he doesn’t have to worry about drinking too much fluid.
If De La Cruz wasn’t on the machine, he could die. He’s lived with similar concerns for 17 years.
In 1987, his doctor informed him his kidneys’ capacity to function had dropped to 30 percent, and were continuing to decline. His doctor told him he was lucky to be alive, De La Cruz said.
Two years later that capacity to function had dropped to less than 10 percent, and De La Cruz desperately needed a replacement kidney.
His first transplant was in 1990. His brother, Jesus De La Cruz, donated the organ. The operation was a success. Aside from some swelling in his face, he didn’t experience complications, and De La Cruz lived normally through the 1990s.
But in 2000, his body began rejecting his brother’s transplanted kidney. The episodes were scattered. Exhaustion and sickness would set in. His doctor, expecting an eventual failure, placed him on a transplant waiting list. The average wait is 5 to 7 years, De La Cruz said.
In May 2003 his one functioning kidney failed, and the doctor ordered him to begin using a dialysis machine. At first, he chose the lab option – going for dialysis treatment three days a week, four hours at a time.
Because of his medical problem, De La Cruz quit his job as an accounting manager. Shortly after, he began his push for county supervisor. For several months while out promoting his candidacy, he often had to schedule his campaign around those lab visits.
The thought, announcing his ailment to the voters, never crossed his mind, he said. By changing over in January to the home dialysis machine, he can function normally during the day.
He started a new part-time job in June. And while awaiting the January start of his term, he must also wonder if District Attorney John Sarsfield will press charges for allegations De La Cruz and his campaign adviser violated elections laws during the campaign. Sarsfield has said he hopes to have it resolved within a month.
Despite tension adding to his risk for complications, De La Cruz said the elections probe hasn’t boosted his stress levels too much.
“Put yourself in my feet and you’ll know what stress is all about,” he said.
