Vy Tran has always had a sense of adventure. He’s had the opportunity to travel around the world. However, that all came to a screeching halt five years ago when he was diagnosed with End-stage Renal Disease.
“They tested and they just said your kidneys are failing and you need to start dialysis now,” Tran said.
Tran had been in search of a kidney donor with no luck. A couple of months ago, Tran reconnected with an old Aliso Niguel High School friend, Shawn Rockenbach. The two became close on a senior class trip to Europe.
“We spent a lot of time together in our early 20s,” Tran said. “We lost touch for almost a decade actually. Life just kind of gets in the way of things.”
Little did Tran know Rockenbach became aware of his health problems a year ago and secretly spent that time getting tested to see if he could be a donor.
“I didn’t tell anybody because I didn’t want to get Vy’s hopes up or anybody else’s hopes up until I knew more,” said Rockenbach.
The pair recently found out they were a match.