Ailing nurse who saved sick infants during Hurricane Sandy needs new kidney to ‘help more babies’

April 01--Even heroes need saving sometimes.

A nurse honored by former President Barack Obama for helping evacuate 20 high-risk babies when Hurricane Sandy slammed NYU Langone Medical Center is looking for a miracle -- in the form of a new kidney.

"My kidneys are in a state of dying," Menchu de Luna Sanchez, 61, told the Daily News. "I'm going to have to go on dialysis, but it'll affect my whole system."

"If I get a kidney donor my life will be lengthened so I could help more babies," she explained.

Sanchez has been on the kidney transplant list for three years, but her time is running out, supporters said.

The mother of two college-age children learned that there could be more potential matches in her native Philippines, but her medical insurance won't cover a surgery outside the United States, she said.

"We would need $100,000 to have it done there."

On Feb. 12, 2013, Sanchez was among a diverse group of 23 people invited to sit with then- First Lady Michelle Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, during Obama's State of the Union address.

She was invited to represent the E. 29th St. hospital's staff, who proved their mettle during the devastating October storm.

"We were sent here to look out for our fellow Americans the same way they look out for one another, every single day, usually without fanfare, all across this country," Obama said at the time. "We should follow the example of a New York City nurse named Menchu Sanchez."

After the 2012 storm flooded her hospital and cut its electricity, Sanchez and other nurses carried 20 sick babies from the neonatal ward down eight flights of stairs, with only their cell phones to light the way.

While Sanchez was saving lives, her home in Secaucus, N.J., was flooded.

"When Hurricane Sandy plunged her hospital into darkness, her thoughts were not with how her own home was faring -- they were with the 20 precious newborns in her care and the rescue plan she devised that kept them all safe," President Obama said.

Emails to an Obama representative and the Obama Foundation about Sanchez's plight were not immediately returned.

Shortly after returning from Washington, she was given devastating news -- her kidney functions were dropping to dangerous levels.

"The function levels are getting crazy," she said. "It's not working any more."

Some people can survive with a damaged kidney flushing just 60% of toxins from their blood. One of Sanchez's kidneys is pumping out 6%, she said. The other organ is hovering just below 9%.

Rates that low are a clear sign of chronic kidney disease, according to the website kidney.org.

Despite this, Sanchez hasn't lost her faith. She still soldiers on, albeit with setbacks.

"At the end of work, I'm so bloated," she said. "Now I just get so tired after a day of work and I still have things to do."

"I just hope someone will help me," the devout woman said. "I pray so hard to have a donor."

"I believe in the power of prayer, as prayers move mountains," she said.

Sanchez was born and raised in the Philippines and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s. She's been a nurse for more than 25 years and is currently working at the neonatal intensive care unit at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Over the years, Sanchez has cared for scores of premature babies.

The parents of those fragile newborns are hoping she gets the help she needs to continue her mission.

"When our daughter was born very suddenly seven weeks early, we were so fortunate to be randomly assigned to Menchu Sanchez," said proud mom Carolyn Tisch Blodgett. "From the moment she laid eyes on our daughter she took care of her like she was her own."

"There are thousands of families like mine that would do anything for Menchu, as we all know that we would not be where we are today without her," Blodgett said.

Anyone wishing to see if they are a match for Sanchez can reach out to the NYU Transplant Institute at (212) 263-3621 or the National Living Donor Assistance Center at (888) 870-5002.

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