Marlboro Teen Talks about Her Dad's Kidney Transplant

Marlboro Township, NJ - Growing up, Varsha Garla's father never had that much energy.

The Burlington Drive, Marlboro Township father of two was in chronic kidney failure, and required dialysis three times a week to keep him alive.

"After being hooked up to a machine for hours, he would always come home from the dialysis center weak and exhausted," Garla, 17, and senior at Biotechnology High School in Freehold, said. "He didn't even have the energy to sit at the dinner table with us. All he could do was go to his room and sleep."

Srinivas Garla's kidneys had started to fail when his daughter was very young, so for most of her childhood she only knew her father, an IT manager, as a frail, sickly man. He was on a transplant list for years, but his body actually rejected several donated organs. Then, when Varsha was in 4th grade at Defino Central, the family got a phone call: A young New Jersey woman had died in a car accident, when she was only in high school. And her kidney was a match.

"I saw him get the call that day, and that's when everything changed," Garla said. This time, her father successfully received the transplant, and almost immediately, he was back to himself again.

"There was such a contrast after his transplant," she said. "He attends my dance performances and takes pictures. He's teaching me how to drive. He can go on all my college visits and we can go on vacations. It's all those little things."

Garla chokes up with tears when she talks about the woman who died.

"We were never able to form a relationship with her family because organ donation is an anonymous process. But we are so thankful every day that she made the choice to sign up to be an organ donor," she said. "That one small act was able to change our lives so much."

This Sunday, Varsha, her brother, her mother, Padma, and many others will participate in a 5K at Brookdale Community College run by the NJ Sharing Network, a non-profit that facilitates and encourages organ donation. Hundreds will participate and the run will raise money that will go organ donation research, education, and donor family support. Varsha also speaks at drivers' ed courses in Monmouth County high schools about the option to become an organ donor, and how it can save lives.

"This is about honoring the donors and giving hope to people on waiting lists for organ donation," she said. "We named our team Team Sunflower, because the sunflower faces the sun, which provides growth. It's a symbol of faith, hope and longevity."