SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio couple who first shared their love story on Valentine’s Day returned to University Hospital Friday afternoon for a surprise reveal: the liver transplant that saved their lives was part of a rare donor exchange involving strangers.
At 1 p.m., Santiago Robles and his wife, Elena Perez, met the other patients and donors who made their survival possible. Robles had donated 75 percent of his liver earlier this year after doctors diagnosed Perez with liver cancer — but what they learned Friday is that his liver was too large to fit her body. Instead, he donated to a stranger, while another living donor stepped up to save Perez.
“I woke up and I was like, the person that donated to me is somewhere… she could be next to me, or he could be next to me,” Perez said. “And I was like, I don’t have disease or cancer in my liver anymore. There was such relief.”…