SAVING A LIFE

Published in the July 19, 2025 edition.

For most of his young adulthood, Brayan Zamora couldn’t imagine a future that wasn’t ruled by illness. Diagnosed with kidney failure at just 15, he faced a world defined by dialysis schedules, missed opportunities, and constant fatigue. 

Now 24, Brayan is finally starting to dream again, thanks to an extraordinary gift from someone he never expected: his elementary school counselor, Jean Sprague. 

Brayan’s journey began in high school when he noticed something wasn’t right. His legs felt heavy. One looked crooked. His bones ached. 

“I was freaking out,” he recalled of the day he was pulled from class and told to go to the hospital. His mother was out of town, unreachable. Alone and scared, he was rushed into emergency surgery and started dialysis the next day. 

Dialysis is a life-preserving treatment for kidney failure, but it’s grueling, especially for a teenager. Brayan returned to school two months later with a catheter in his chest, facing the isolation of being different from his peers. 

“I couldn’t swim. I couldn’t do a lot of things after that,” he said. “How do I tell someone, ‘Hey, I’m really sick, and I’m doing dialysis?” 

Brayan’s lifeline came in the form of the Toiyabe Dialysis Center, a clinic operated by the Toiyabe Indian Health Project in Bishop. It’s a place where people like Brayan, rural residents with limited access to care, can get the treatment they need, close to home. 

“That place was amazing, and the doctors were super nice,” he said. “As a kid, I appreciated that. And as an adult, I appreciate it a lot more. Because at the end of the day, I was very scared and very young when I started.” 

Over time, Brayan not only found care there, but he also found a community. The other patients called him “baby” because he was the youngest. He got to know them all. 

His school teachers helped accommodate his treatment schedule, and his managers at his jobs at Vons and El Pollo Loco made adjustments to support his health. So did his friends; his childhood best friend Kai stood by him throughout, and another friend, Nick, often drove him to appointments. 

His siblings also took care of him, even though he was the eldest of the bunch. They would help him up the stairs if he were having trouble, or they would lie with him and make sure he fell asleep when he was in pain. 

He assumed this would be his life forever. It was painful. It was all-consuming. 

After Brayan graduated from high school, his dialysis appointments were moved to 4:00 a.m. He’d get home around eight, sleep a little, and try to go to work. Some days, he would be nauseous from the pain and headaches. 

He couldn’t work for more than a few days at a time. He could barely leave Bishop, knowing he’d need to be back in the center the next morning. He couldn’t swim, and his treatments limited the amount of time he had with his friends. 

Brayan had given up hope of ever getting a kidney. His mom had wanted to donate a kidney, but she wasn’t a match. His siblings were too young. The waiting list for a transplant is years long. The idea felt impossible. 

Then, one day, everything changed. 

“I was walking my dog and saw Jean in the neighborhood,” Brayan said. “She told me she wanted to give me her kidney.” 

Jean had been the counselor for Bishop Elementary when Brayan was in fifth grade. Back then, he called her “Miss Smiley,” and she remembered him as a “healthy, happy adorable child.” Over the years, she’d kept in touch, always asking how he was doing. 

Jean, in retirement, had quietly started researching kidney donation after learning about Brayan’s condition. She realized she could give him a shot at a whole life. Her husband, Nick, was hesitant about her idea at first, but got on board and supported her every step of the way. 

Her sister, Kathy, figured out that being a kidney recipient can be expensive because Brayan and his caregiver, his sister, would lose wages, continue to have bills, and have to stay in San Diego for at least a month after his operation. She started a GoFundMe and former students, coworkers, friends, family, and their friends and families donated. 

Jean took a “battery of medical tests” to prove she was healthy enough to donate, and said “the process wasn’t smooth as silk by any means, but the outcome was well worth whatever annoyances I encountered.” 

The day the transplant was approved, Brayan contacted Jean first. He still has the voucher that was sent to him. 

Jean’s kidney wasn’t a direct match for Brayan because of their age difference, but through a paired donation program, her kidney helped another patient, and in turn, Brayan was matched with a compatible donor. 

“I still feel like this kidney is Jean’s, because she was the one who donated it to me and changed my life,” he said. 

He and his sister spent about two months in San Diego recovering after the surgery in February. 

When he was discharged, the nurses took him to ring a bell, and they gave him a certificate that read, “Owner of a New Kidney,” and he vowed to always take care of it and to remember who gave him a new life. When he got back to Bishop, he had nothing but gratitude for the community that had stood by him. 

“At the end of the day, it wasn’t just me going through this,” he said. “A lot of people made sure that my mom could take care of me, made sure I had the help I needed. I am very thankful to Bishop for being such a loving community to me and my family.” 

Brayan now has more energy and has started traveling. He went to Universal Studios for the first time with his siblings and was amazed by the rides and the freedom to walk around. He’s now planning to go to Comic-Con International next year with his friends. 

“I felt like, you know what? This is great. This is my new normal, and I’m very thankful for this opportunity,” he said. 

As for Jean, she said she had a speedy recovery and is perfectly fine. She said she is probably in better shape than she would be if she hadn’t donated, because she took such care to complete the process in a healthy manner. 

She said it was well worth the effort, and that she feels privileged to have been able to share. 

Brayan still texts Jean regularly. He’s walking more, smiling more, and finally planning for a future that once felt out of reach. He’s finally living the life he thought he could never have.