Gintaras and Gitana
Kaunas residents Gintaras and Gitana Žydeliai, both kidney transplant survivors, met each other in the hospital—an extraordinary twist of fate brought them together. The couple can’t stop marveling at this unexpected encounter. „If it weren’t for our illnesses, we would never have met. I am grateful to fate for meeting my soulmate in the hospital,” smiles Gitana.
Gitana currently lives with two transplanted kidneys, while Gintaras has one. They jokingly say that together, they have seven kidneys.
Gitana’s health problems began when she was just three months old. After catching the flu, an infection led to inflammation of the kidney pelvis. By the time she was 19, her damaged kidneys completely failed. She needed dialysis, and her father donated a kidney. After the successful transplant, Gitana felt great for two decades, but later needed another transplant, this time from a deceased donor. She now feels excellent and has returned to her beloved work as a cosmetologist and makeup artist.
Gintaras’ kidney issues began much later in life, after he had already become an adult. When he was diagnosed with kidney failure, his health quickly deteriorated, and dialysis became necessary. „After dialysis, I felt terrible. My blood pressure would drop sharply, my vision would blur, and I couldn’t walk or understand what was happening. I felt awful.” About a month later, his brother Albinas offered to donate a kidney. Although Gintaras hesitated for a long time, he eventually accepted his brother’s gift, and he now looks back on this generous decision with gratitude.
After the transplant, a new life began for him, and now, 25 years later, he feels well.
Both Gintaras and Gitana are deeply grateful to their families for giving them the chance to live on. Gitana, in particular, is thankful to the family of the deceased donor for their life-saving decision. She says she thinks of her donor every day and believes that such noble acts can bring miracles into people’s lives.
For now, the couple looks to the future with optimism. They plan trips and make sure to take a vacation to warmer destinations every year. Travel is their greatest passion.
Arūnas Kunca
Born and raised in Marijampolė, Arūnas Kunca is a unique figure in Lithuania. Due to a congenital condition, his own heart could no longer beat, and 19 years ago, he received a heart transplant. Arūnas was 39 at the time. “When the doctors told me I needed a heart transplant, I was very scared. While in the hospital, I met another person also waiting for a heart transplant. He was frail and in much worse condition than me. I thought I’d have to endure and wait for a donor heart, but things didn’t go as planned: I was sent home before Christmas, and in January, I got the call that a donor was available.”
When asked to recall how he felt at that moment, Arūnas answers briefly: “I struggled on the way to the hospital. Fortunately, my wife was a great support, which made me feel calmer and braver.” After recovering from the heart transplant and living with it for over a decade, Arūnas faced another challenge—he was diagnosed with kidney failure. Dialysis was started, and a year later, he was called again for another transplant, this time a kidney: “They transplanted the heart in Kaunas and the kidney in Vilnius. Now it’s all behind me, and I’m starting to forget it.”
Arūnas shares that he feels good now, participates in “Gyvastis” gatherings, and enjoys the opportunity to talk to others, listen to their stories, and share his own. Despite spending a lot of time in hospitals and undergoing multiple surgeries beyond organ transplants, Arūnas remains optimistic and refuses to complain: “Why cry now? Life is beautiful, you just need to know how to live it.”
“I’m deeply grateful to both of my donors for giving me so many years to live. Without them, I might have only lived for one more year,” says Arūnas Kunca.
Edvardas Milaševič
Pancreas-kidney transplants are extremely rare, and Vilnius resident Edvardas Milaševič is one of the few recipients. “You could say I was one of the lucky ones to receive both organs, and I’ve been living with them for ten years now,” says Edvardas. “In fact, in 2014, when the transplant took place, I was only the 13th patient to receive these organs.”
His illness came unexpectedly: “It’s believed that it may have been caused by a severe case of the flu while I was serving in the army. There were no medications available at the base—only fever reducers and cough medicine.” Upon returning home, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a huge blow as this incurable disease gradually affects other organs. One of the organs impacted was his kidneys: “Because of diabetes, I had to live with insulin, and due to non-functioning kidneys, I had to undergo dialysis. Life wasn’t easy, and dark moods would often visit.”
When Edvardas began exploring organ transplants, he learned that not only could a kidney be transplanted, freeing him from dialysis, but also a pancreas, curing both diabetes and kidney failure. He began waiting for the transplant.
As complications from diabetes worsened, Edvardas’ vision declined, and circulatory problems in his legs made walking increasingly difficult. “I was eagerly waiting for the organ set,” he recalls. “And finally, I got the call!” The post-surgery period wasn’t easy, and Edvardas doesn’t like to dwell on it. But after that difficult phase, a new life began—without dialysis, without insulin, with no dietary or fluid restrictions, and much more time that he used to spend in the dialysis center: “I returned to work. I worked in the public food service sector for 29 years. Unfortunately, due to vascular issues in my legs caused by diabetes, I had to leave, and now I no longer work.”
“Organ donation and transplantation are close to my heart—I follow the news and read everything that’s published. I was excited to learn about a new procedure in Lithuania—the pancreas islet implantation. It’s great that innovations in this field are reaching our country. If people ask me how I’m doing and how life is with two transplanted organs, I’m always happy to share my experiences.”