CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — Erendira Mosqueda's bags are packed, and her phone stays close by as she waits for the call that could save her life — a kidney transplant at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.
"I finally got listed. They told me to pack, so now I'm just waiting for the call," Mosqueda said.
It's a phone call Mosqueda has been waiting for after six long years of uncertainty about her survival.
"I'm so excited and I can't sleep. I'm looking at my phone anytime it rings thinking, 'is it them?'" Mosqueda said.
Mosqueda has finally found a matching kidney that could transform her life; now she's just waiting for the call to confirm it's time to travel for the procedure.
Mosqueda, who goes by Eren, is continuing the hardest part of her life in the meantime as she waits for the call: dialysis.
"I'm sick all the time. Like this morning, I threw up," Mosqueda said.
Her house tells the story of her struggle — hundreds of boxes of medical supplies filling every wall, corner, and room. Her sickness surrounds her, but Eren refuses to give up her fight.
"I don't ever want to pass away one day, and my kids say I didn't try hard enough, that I didn't try. I want my family to know that I never gave up ever. I want them to know that I fought until the end. I want them to know that for them," Mosqueda said.
Long journey to transplant list
Getting to this point has been a long and emotional journey. Mosqueda was born with spina bifida. Despite what doctors told her, she still ended up walking and even gave birth to three children, but they live with special needs. Eren is unable to work, and beyond her immediate family, there's no real support system.
However, Mosqueda remains mentally strong.
"Your mental health — you need it so you can fight better," Mosqueda said.
Mosqueda was on a waitlist for a kidney transplant in California, but the waitlist is so long that the odds were she wouldn't survive.
Eren learned that the waitlist for a kidney in Arizona was much shorter, but it came with a higher price tag, which included travel, housing, and medical expenses.
Good Samaritan steps in
In Nov. 2024, a miracle happened. Mosqueda met the man she calls her angel: Marc Paskin.
Former ABC 10News reporter Madison Weil was the reporter who discovered Eren's story, and through her reporting, Paskin found out about Eren's story as well.
"I was watching my favorite news channel 10 one night," said Mosqueda.
Paskin, a real estate investor and La Jolla philanthropist, surprised Mosqueda with a pledge to help cover her medical expenses for her journey to Arizona.
Paskin contacted Weil and told her that he would pledge to help Eren through her transplant journey.
"Basically, what I'm doing is helping her pay for expenses that insurance won't cover. So insurance might cover the transplant, but she'll need a condo or house after the transplant, food, a caregiver, medications, and groceries. We came up with a list of about $100,000," said Paskin.
For Paskin, he said, helping Eren is about more than just writing checks.
"My goal is by Christmas she will have the transplant finished, it will be successful, and she'll have her first Christmas without dialysis. I believe it's going to happen," Paskin said.
Renewed hope and health
Paskin's pledge changed Mosqueda's outlook on life.
"I love him. I text him all the time," Mosqueda said. "I say he's just like my grandpa, my dad... just an angel."
With the stress of planning her Arizona trip, Mosqueda started focusing on transforming her health and appearance while waiting for the transplant.
"When I first started dialysis, my body changed a lot to a degree I didn't like. I was gray, ashy, my skin was dry, my hair was crunchy, not looking good. I just started working hard on my skincare and ways to help my body, because that's not me," Mosqueda said.
Eren said her transformation is something her cardiologist also noticed.
"She told me last week that my heart changed and my heart started pumping better," said Mosqueda. "Last time I saw her, I was worried about fundraising and getting to Arizona, and all that stuff. So she told me my heart is pumping better because of less stress, so that's huge."
With the financial stress out of the way, Eren said she's also started envisioning and planning for the future — one with hope for a full life.
"I want to go to the drive-in with my kids," Mosqueda said. "I don't even care what movie it is. I just want to sit and eat popcorn with my kids in the car and be silly. I just want to go to the movies with my kids."
