Donor Hero

Kenneth Romero was born on July 12th, 1990 in Cali, Colombia. He was the youngest out of three children. At the age of six, he boarded a plane to New York. He lived in New York with his two siblings and mother until they all moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Kenneth loved to watch the movie Casper and visited the park. He was very smart and even though he didn’t speak English, he was eager to learn. He quickly became top of his class as an honor roll student. Kenneth was loved by everyone that knew him. His charisma and his personality were amazing. He loved his family, his nieces and nephews, sister, mom and dad. From middle school all the way to college, Kenneth had a best friend, Matias, who worked with him during the weekends cutting grass. Kenneth was a focused young man with many goals to achieve. He continued school while working with a laser company where he was loved by his boss. Once he graduated high school, he was off to Florida Atlantic University. He later transferred to Santa Fe where achieved his associate’s in arts degree. He continued his studies in finance, so he could achieve his Masters. While at Santa Fe, Kenneth’s asthma was triggered severely and his allergies were unmanageable, then he decided to come back home. Kenneth had several doctor’s appointments and treatments to manage his allergies and his asthma.

On Sunday, February 16, 2014, Kenneth was at his sister’s house watching the All-Stars NBA game. He had not been sick for weeks or had an asthma attack. While there, he needed to do a breathing treatment. He seemed to be taking longer than usual, so his sister checked on him to make sure he was ok but found him showing signs of respiratory distress and collapsed in her arms. She administered CPR to bring him back but couldn’t. EMS was called to the house although they did everything they could, it was already too late. When he at University Hospital and Medical Center, arrangements were made to transfer him to West Side Regional Medical Center to have an extensive neuro consult. His sister had every neurologist that she could think off come to see him, but they all said the same, he was partially brain dead. He was placed on a ventilator to maintain organ function. Many brain tests were completed, but there was little activity and every time it would decrease more and more until he was pronounced brain dead. Because Kenneth was a registered donor, arrangements were made until he was pronounced brain dead. Because Kenneth was a registered donor, arrangements were made with Life Alliance to recover his organs and search for the best recipient candidates that could have an opportunity of life thanks to Kenneth.