Jemy Caalaman works on a AH-1 helicopter at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Photo by Joe Feliciano

Artisan gives brother a new life

By Bill Bartkus
NADEP North Island

CORONADO, Calif. – Jemy Caalaman gave his older brother a birthday gift that neither will ever forget. Not because the gift came on the first anniversary of 9-11, but because Caalaman literally gave his brother a part of himself.

A kidney!

“It was something I knew that I had to do,” said Caalaman, Code 6.2.1.7, who works in the H-1 Airframes Branch at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Manuel Caalaman, a U.S. Post Office employee, had been on a kidney dialysis machine for the past two years, Jemy mentioned. He would need a kidney and soon.

“I organized a family meeting among my parents, brothers and sisters – seven children in all – to discuss Manuel’s situation since we were all concerned about my brother’s health,” he said. “He had to have a kidney!”

After one year, the family had not made any progress. “Some of us were not medically capable of donating a kidney because of either high blood pressure or high cholesterol,” Jemy said. “Only a few of us were compatible, but I was the most compatible.”

Jemy didn’t hesitate to help his brother. “It just broke my heart to see Manuel so sick all the time. I just knew that I had to give him one of my kidneys. He has a wife and three children.”

He said that it took eight months to go through the kidney screening process. “Once I was given the nod that I was a compatible donor, we spoke to the doctor and selected 9-11 as the day to operate because it was Manuel’s birthday,” Jemy said. The operation lasted three hours, and Jemy was back to work in a matter of days.

“Manuel is on the road to recovery and his body is adapting well to the kidney and the medication,” Jemy said. “Hopefully, he’ll be back to work, on a limited scale, in a few months.”

Yes, Jemy is a lifesaver!