Nina Saria's search for a kidney donor got her to the operating table twice. Watch video
EGG HARBOR CITY -- Dec. 1, 2015 was supposed to be the end of Nina Saria's struggle. It would take exactly 365 more days before the cross-continent culmination of her search for a kidney had a happy and healthy ending.
From left, Nina Saria, 34, of Egg Harbor City, Christopher Saria, 8, and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez at his Barrington office, Jan. 17, 2017. (Greg Adomaitis | For NJ.com)Saria can thank U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who stepped in and argued that the 34-year-old Egg Harbor City woman's mother was a perfect match and needed safe passage from Eastern Europe.
"The fact that you're standing here strong is a testament to your unflinching will to live and thrive," Menendez said Tuesday at a gathering at his Barrington office accompanied by Sarin's mother, 50-year-old Nana Gulua from Georgia. "Nina could have curled up and silently suffered."
But Saria didn't curl up. She kept searching and found the perfect match within her own mother who was continents away. Menendez stepped in after a travel visa was denied, appealing to the American consulate in Georgia saying it was "life or death" situation.
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When that failed, the longtime Democratic legislator sought humanitarian parole from the U.S. Department of State. More than 1,000 such applications are made annually and three out of four are denied -- but this wouldn't be one of them.
It was Nov. 2015 when a Camden County contractor in search of building supplies on Craigslist stumbled upon a post pleading for a kidney. Saria had been languishing on dialysis and a donor list for more than a year when the prospective donor -- who lost his wife to the same medical condition -- stepped up.
It was Dec. 1, 2015, the day of the long-awaited surgery, when it was revealed that the donor had Cirrhosis of the liver and couldn't donate his kidney after all.
So on Dec. 1, 2016 -- one year to the day after the crushing revelation that her struggle would continue -- mom and daughter went under the knife and Saria got a new lease on life.
"It has been difficult for us but we kept fighting," said Saria, who is studying to become a nurse and happy to "be back to normal."
Calling the episode a "moment of high calling and personal satisfaction," Menendez said it epitomizes what being a public servant is all about.
"We need more compassion and less bureaucratic red tape," the senator said.
None may have been happier than Christopher, Sarin and husband Kay's 8-year-old son.
"I'm so glad my mom does not have dialysis any more," the second grader said. "Now we can swim and have snowball fights."
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.