PHOENIX (Feb. 13, 2026) – Nearly a year after a complex three-way paired kidney transplant, three donors and their unrelated recipients met each other for the first time in the healing garden at Banner — University Medical Center Phoenix.
“I was in awe,” donor John Yates said Wednesday at the gathering. “I got to look into this guy’s eyes and his mother — it was the most wonderful feeling to be able to feel that love and healing.”
On any given day, around 100,000 people are on the national kidney transplant waiting list, with a wait time that can often reach three to five years.
Last year, three unrelated people were hoping to be a match for their respective loved ones in need of a kidney. Joceline Cortez Barraza, 24, wanted to give her kidney to her brother, Jorge Cortes Barraza, 28. Yates, 45, wanted to give his kidney to his cousin, Candy Gray, 46. And Kenneth Giersz, 62, wanted to give his kidney to his daughter, Catrina Giersz, 34.
While Giersz could have donated to his daughter since he has Type O blood, the universal donor blood type, the other patients had incompatible blood types. But when putting together potential donors with unrelated recipients, all blood types matched up, enabling the possibility for a three-way paired kidney transplant. When asked if each would be willing to donate to a stranger, they all said yes — making possible the kidney exchange so that each recipient would receive an organ quicker and freeing up a few spots on the kidney wait list as well.
“Miracles do happen,” said Jorge Cortes Barraza, who received Yates’ kidney after spending three years on dialysis while suffering from kidney failure. “I’m so thankful for what he did, because it takes a lot of courage.”
Alfredo Fabrega, MD, and Willem Van der Werf, MD, successfully performed the transplant surgeries last April. In the exchange, Yates donated his kidney to Jorge Cortes Barraza, Kenneth Giersz donated his kidney to Gray, and Joceline Cortez Barraza donated her kidney to Catrina Giersz. Since then, all six donors and recipients have recovered and are back to living healthy lives.
During the emotional ceremony on Wednesday, donors and recipients were given envelopes containing their respective blood types. To introduce the donors and recipients, each blood type was asked to step forward to “match” with their person. With National Donor Day on Saturday, Feb. 14, the donors and their recipients marked a special milestone in their journeys, meeting each other and celebrating the gift of life.
“It was magical seeing these people get to meet each other for the first time,” said Ken Bodziak, MD, medical director for the kidney transplant program at Banner — University Medical Center Phoenix. “If you know someone with kidney failure, please consider becoming a donor — even if you can’t help them, you could still help someone else in need.”
For more information about becoming a living kidney donor, visit the Banner Health website.
About Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix
Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix is a large teaching hospital that has provided medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. It is part of Banner – University Medicine, a premier academic medical network. The institution, which has trained thousands of doctors over decades as a teaching hospital, is the academic medical center for The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. The hospital, recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the nation’s best hospitals, specializes in heart care, cancer care, high-risk obstetrics, neurosciences, organ transplants, medical toxicology and emergency care, including a Level I trauma center. Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix is part of Banner Health, a nonprofit health care system with 32 hospitals in six states. For more information, visit bannerhealth.com/universityphoenix.
Photos and video available at: View Collection
Caption: Recipients and their donors, left to right: Catrina Giersz (recipient), Joceline Cortez Barraza (donor), Candy Gray (recipient), Kenneth Giersz (donor), Jorge Cortes Barraza (recipient), John Yates (donor)
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