Providence child home for the holidays after lung transplant

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – Joey Alvarado has been in three different hospitals in the last year after he was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease.

“Basically his lungs were not working anymore,” his mother, Kristina Aguilar explained.

When Joey ended up at Hasbro Children’s hospital last December, she quit her job to help him, and take care of her other two children.

“He needed me,” said Aguilar. “So I stopped working.”

For the last year, Joey has been on a quest for a new set of lungs.

He waited for five months on a transplant list.

“You don’t know when they’re going to call you and you’re just waiting and waiting… Seeing your son getting sicker and sicker,” explained Aguilar. “It was hard because I couldn’t help him. I just waited for my miracle.”

It was July when they finally got the call.

Joey’s weak body then had to survive a 12 hour surgery at Boston Children’s.

“I think that was the longest hours of my life,” recalled Aguilar.

Once he’d made it through that, Joey had another five months of recovery and rehabilitation at Franciscan Children’s in Boston.

“He kind of forgot how to walk,” said Aguilar. “And he got weak.”

Now, back at home, Joey is trying to adjust to a life he hasn’t lived in a year.

Right now, he can’t eat or drink, which is something he’s struggling to get used to.

But his mother says the experience has made their family closer and put things into perspective.

“Life is too short. And you should live every moment, every second, if you can, with your family,” she said.

Joey will be home-schooled until at least the spring to protect his immune system.

They will try to get him eating solid foods and drinking in another three months.

©WLNE-TV/ABC6 2019