Renal services, transplant services
Marcos
Diagnosed at birth, Eagle-Barrett syndrome

Architecture student faces kidney dialysis, transplants, but focuses on the positive

When Marcos rocks out with his band, he may seem like any other 21-year-old. But this young architecture student has had more challenges than most people three times his age – and he’s managed to design a bright future for himself.

Marcos was born with prune belly syndrome, also known as Eagle-Barrett syndrome, a rare disorder that affects the kidneys and other organs. He had bladder surgery when he was only 2 years old. Then, when he was in eighth grade, he had a kidney transplant.

Five years later, when he was a freshman in college, Marcos lost the kidney to chronic rejection and learned he needed another transplant. He was having back pain, and when physicians investigated the cause they discovered a cancerous tumor in his liver. The transplant had to be postponed, and Marcos underwent a complex surgery that removed part of his liver. He missed an entire year of his architecture studies.

After his surgery to remove the tumor, Marcos had to return to dialysis for two years to make sure it would not come back before his next transplant. This fall, Marcos hopes to have another kidney transplant. However, he realizes a transplant is not a cure, and he faces a lifelong need for dialysis and transplant.

In the meantime, he has words of praise for Texas Children’s, especially his physician, Dr. Stuart Goldstein, medical director of the renal dialysis.

“The doctors are great here,” he says. “And I really like the atmosphere, especially when you’re an inpatient. Other hospitals are so depressing.”

Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Marcos had dialysis for three hours. The dialysis room is a large, open space, filled with activity, children, parents, doctors, nurses and other staff. Marcos says none of it bothers him, that he enjoys watching the activity and talking to people.

Marcos chose architecture as his career path when he was in high school. While taking a computer-aided drafting class, he – purely by chance he says -- entered a citywide competition and won second place. Close behind was admittance to the University of Houston’s summer architecture program for high school students and the beginning of a keen interest in architecture.

Although Marcos’ health problems have slowed his study schedule – it has taken three years to finish one and a half years of the curriculum – he keeps his eye on the prize. After graduation, he hopes to design houses, and he is looking forward to someday owning an architecture firm.

When Marcos isn’t studying or playing with his brother and their friends in a band, he likes to play soccer and paintball, and read.

Marcos is looking forward to his next kidney transplant. If the timing is right, he will be back in the classroom by the spring semester and back on track to the future.