HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A flight attendant never let her rare kidney disease stop her from living her life. But when that disease threatened her dream job, a friend she met at church stepped up to keep her in the air.
Despite living with a kidney disease called lupus nephritis, Jenn Menco always strived to live her best life.
“Nothing can stop me from living life, you know, I mentioned it before, I love life,” said Menco.
Menco said she especially loves her job as a flight attendant, which allows her to travel all over the world.
In 2022, she was hit with unbearable news following an emergency trip to the hospital.
“One day, I was coming back from Houston, a domestic flight, I landed in Tampa and they rushed me to the [emergency room] and they told me that it was time for me to do dialysis,” said Menco.
During the worst of her health issues, Menco was only able to travel a few times each month.
After years of struggling with her health, she could tell it was going to get worse.
“March of last year, I was coming from an international flight — Milan, that’s a long flight, that’s like an eight hour flight. I think dealing with lupus for so long for so many years, you learn your body and you listen to your body, so I knew days prior to that flight, that the time was coming. I knew was gonna have a kidney failure,” said Menco.
Menco endured months of hemodialysis, spending upwards of 10 hours a day in treatment, two to three times each week.
She kept her dialysis treatment a secret.
Her whole life was about to change after she had a conversation with Sharon Figueroa, a friend from her church.
After that conversation, Figueroa had an idea in mind of how to help Menco.
“She was just sharing her story with me and, in my hear, I wanted to help her if I could. I just thought, ‘I’d give her one of my kidneys. I have two!'” said Figueroa.
Keeping her idea a secret, Figueroa completed all the necessary testing to be approved as Menco’s kidney donor.
“She’s been doing all the process, which is a long process, you know, it requires a lot of time. Maybe for six months that she did it, and she never said anything to me,” said Menco.
The surgery proved to be a success, which meant Menco would be able to return to doing the job she loves, soaring high in the sky with a new kidney.
“Before, I was needing a kidney and now I have three ’cause they didn’t remove my two so, you see, I’m rich in many, many ways right now. I’m very blessed and happy for that,” said Menco.
Menco added that she just recently started working out again. She went on to say that it’s being able to do simple things like that that make it feel good to being able to return to a normal life.
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