State employee gives organ to co-worker

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Philip Knisely is gay. According to the Centers for Disease Control, that means he cannot legally donate blood, tissue or organs.

So, why is one of his kidneys riding around in the body of Jose Luis Vara, Jr.?

Well, it turns out there is an exception to the rule.

If the recipient of a donated organ knows of the owner's sexual orientation and medical tests clear the donor, the process can take place.

Besides, Vara was running out of options.

Polycystic kidney disease killed Jose Luis Vara Sr. Doctors told his son he would be at risk for the same fate. Sure enough, 12 years ago, Vara got the diagnosis. Three years ago, he went on the grueling, three-times-a-week schedule of five-hour campouts in a dialysis chair.

When his wife and three sons went to see the grandparents for a week, Vara went with them for the first weekend, returned to Austin for the week and his three trips to the "chair," and then drove back to pick up the family.

"I didn't sleep for a year because of my worries," said Vara's wife, Mildred.

The sons fretted, as well. Vara, for his part, simply prayed.

"I was praying to God for a miracle," he said.

Four times, he thought that miracle had arrived. First, a brother and then a cousin stepped up to volunteer a kidney. Their wives, however, worrying for their husbands, convinced both to rescind the offer. A teacher at the school attended by one of Vara's children was next.

"Are you married?" Vara wondered aloud.

"No," came the reply.

"All right!" Vara said, laughing.

A rare kidney disorder showed up in testing for the donor, so the donation fell through. A school principal was next up. Health issues got in the way again. Vara kept smiling and praying.

Then a co-worker at the Texas State Comptroller's office, hearing about Vara's ups and downs, pulled him aside one day. He offered to give up one of his kidneys.

"It matters to me; it matters that those kids have a father," Knisely explained.

First, he had something to tell Vara: "I'm gay," he confided.

Recalling the conversation, Vara's eyes sparkle and a small knowing smile spreads across his face.

"I said, 'Philip, I know.'"

Tests revealed no HIV/AIDS infection, which the CDC specifically looks for when homosexuals are tested for transplants. In fact, Knisely, at the age of 51, is the picture of health. 

And to Knisely, Vara is the picture of tolerance.

"There are a number of men who I've worked with the whole 19 years that we've known each other who still don't speak to me today," Knisely said.

As for Vara, there was never any doubt.

"I treat everybody the same," said Vara.

The medical tests began just before Thanksgiving. The surgeries took place Dec. 30. Both men wound up back in the hospital briefly because of minor complications, but both are now doing well.

Vara is looking forward to as long a life as "God has planned."

And Knisely looks forward to the day when simply being "gay" no longer disqualifies healthy homosexuals from the opportunity to save lives.

 

 

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