LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Five years ago, WHAS11 shared the story of a horse trainer who was in desperate need of a kidney donor as he was at Churchill Downs with the 2019 Oaks favorite Bellafina.
After the coverage, people from across the nation reached out see if they were a match for Carlos Santamaria, and ultimately one person was able to save his life. It wasn't an easy process as the organization who helped him is noticing how difficult it is for people of color to find a match.
During another busy horse keeping day at the Churchill Downs Training Center, Santamaria was at his stable making sure all of his 13 current horses were being taking care of. If it wasn't for the life-saving kidney transplant his story could've had a different outcome.
Santamaria said back in 2017 he noticed his body was always exhausted and he didn't have much of an appetite. This was all happening at the same time he was taking his citizenship test to become an American citizen from Mexico.
Soon enough, he went to see a doctor to get some bloodwork done and got an immediate call that his kidneys were failing.
"I end up being in the hospital for almost two weeks doing dialysis almost every other day," Santamaria said.
During his treatments, Santamaria was also training the 2019 Oaks favorite Bellafina.
WHAS11 followed his journey before the race, and the stress he was dealing with, but as of Thursday he was moving around his stables freely.
"I told the doctor, I said 'listen; I want to live the rest of my days, weeks, months or years doing what I love to do,'" Santamaria said.
The organization, Mulligan's Living Kidney Donors, helped spread his story nationwide. The founder Leigh Ann Saylor brought this story to the forefront of media.
"The one that came forward to give him a kidney, she wasn't the only one," Saylor said. "Several other people came forward and were just not quite healthy enough to do it. The response we got, I get chills every time I talk about it."
Arizona resident Suzy Lenvenda is the person who gave Santamaria the gift of life, but Saylor said she's noticing a pattern when it comes to kidney failure.
"I'm not a doctor so I can't really explain it but it's harder to match the antibodies and antigens in Hispanic as well as African Americans," Saylor said. "Also it's very prevalent in those two communities."
Santamaria said that Bellafina ended up saving his life.
"I always call her the one that saved my life, because thanks to her they were able to spread the word about my situation and a lot of people from California, Kentucky and even New York; I had hundreds of phone calls," Santamaria said.
One of those calls was from Lenvenda. She's given Santamaria the chance to meet his first grandchild and live out his dream of being in future Derby races.
"There's people who are on dialysis for years and they're still waiting," Santamaria said.
He said every time he was talking with Levenda that she advocated for him to believe in their faith and told him God put her in his path to save him. Ultimately the odds lined up in his favor as he is riding just as strong as his horses now.
Santamaria did not participate in any Derby races this year but has plans to in the future. He no longer owns Bellafina but said she's now retired, a happy mother and that he frequently visits her in Lexington.
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