Hanks Teacher Gets Help From YISD In Looking For A Liver Donor

EL PASO, TX — Ruben Barron is not a drinker. He does not use drugs. Yet, he is battling a disease associated with those habits. In 2002, the Hanks High School broadcasting and video production teacherwas diagnosed with cirrhosis.

“I’m trying to keep my spirits up for my family,” Barron told ABC-7 as he stood outside his classroom filled with students taping the day’s announcements to broadcast to the school later that morning. “Things can get worse at the spur of the moment.”

In fact, Barron was admitted to an Orlando, FL, hospital a few weeks ago while on a school trip. The constant trips to the emergency room make it hard to manage his classroom, but he does it with the help of his oldest son, Alex, a sophomore at Hanks. “It’s been really hard, especially when I’ve had to take him to the hospital,” said the 16 year old.

Barron and his family are hopeful that an unprecedented move by the Ysleta Independent School District will change their situation. Y.I.S.D. agreed to a request by Hanks Principal Louis Martinez to send out a letter to all district employees, notifying them of the dire need for a living donor willing to part with a percentage of their liver.

Barron is hopeful, saying, “I feel that right now, it really is my only option.”

The educator’s liver is diseased, but not to the point where he qualifies for an organ from a cadaver. He does not have any siblings, and the two cousins who are his blood type had childhood diseases, making them ineligible. “I’m counting on the good nature of the employees here in Y.I.S.D. to help me out,” Barron says.

Barron and his family are willing to pay for expenses incurred as part of the procedure for any volunteer who qualifies as a match. If you would like more information on the living donor surgery, call Ruben Barron at 434-5725.

Written for kvia.com by Anchor/Reporter Stephanie Valle