MIAMI (WSVN) - A Latin-American superstar is speaking publicly for the first time about the surgery at a South Florida hospital that saved his life.
Venezuelan singer José Luis Rodríguez, better known as “El Puma,” has spent his life touring the world, entertaining audiences with his music and his voice. However, the internationally renowned singer and actor would not be here today if someone had not signed up to be an organ donor.
These days, the 75-year-old is spending his time at Jackson Memorial Hospital, as he recovers from major surgery.
“To keep going, build myself, build my body, my spirit,” he said during a news conference on Friday.
Rodríguez said it all started a few years ago, when he noticed a change. “I felt, in 2000, my voice changed. Lower, and I felt a change in my body. I didn’t know why,” he said, “but I was still working, traveling.”
Rodríguez also couldn’t breathe, and he was forced to perform while hooked up to an oxygen tank.
He soon learned the devastating news: he had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease that causes scarring of the lungs for unknown reasons.
“When we met him, he was in a very advanced stage of progressive lung disease,” said Matthias Loebe, M.D., a doctor at the Miami Transplant Institute. “Basically bound to a wheelchair, on oxygen.”
Rodríguez’s only chance of survival was a double lung transplant. He was admitted to Jackson Memorial Hospital on Dec. 16 when he received the call that a donor match was available.
His doctors are already optimistic he’ll be able to sing again. “His voice is certainly much better than mine,” said Loebe.
As for Rodríguez, he’s thankful for his new lease on life. While he continues to focus on his full recovery, he’s now planning his future.
“We are planning for April next year, to have a tour, but before, I have to be really recuperated, really do things that I was doing before,” he said, “and that’s it. First of all, this is the main point, my recuperation.”
Jackson Memorial is sharing Rodríguez’s story as part of Donate Life Month.
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