THE GIFT OF LIFE HAIRDRESSER DONATES KIDNEY TO CUSTOMER'S HUSBAND.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

I don't know if there's a Hairdressers Hall of Fame, but if there is, Michelle Garcia should be a charter member.

Earlier this month, the Newhall hairdresser gave a customer's husband one of her kidneys.

Not a longtime customer, mind you. Not even a customer who had become a close friend over the years, or one who was a big tipper.

Michelle has been doing Lorena Ruffino's at Hairitage Quarters in Newhall for about three years. Lorena's 30-year-old husband, Tony, became a customer, too, back in February, not long before both his kidneys started to fail and he was put on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.

Michelle was cutting Lorena's hair a few months ago when she asked how Tony was doing because he hadn't been in for a while. The news was not good.

Tony had to have both his diseased kidneys removed, and would be on a dialysis machine while waiting for a possible transplant, Lorena said.

Because his kidney disease was hereditary, Tony's relatives weren't candidates for a transplant. The real bad news was that the waiting list was four years long.

The odds of finding a compatible donor was about one in 10,000, Lorena said.

``I told her if I was a match I'd give Tony one of my kidneys,'' Michelle said.

Lorena remembers looking in the mirror back at Michelle's face, thinking, ``Yeah, right.''

Michelle saw the look of doubt. ``No, I'm serious,'' she said. ``I'd do it.''

Lorena still can't believe it. ``I thought why would a person do something like this? We had a hairdresser-customer relationship, nothing outside this shop.''

Because sometimes what you see and feel standing over a person cutting their hair and talking about their lives gets to you, Michelle would say.

When she looked into the mirror at Tony Ruffino's face while cutting his hair, she saw pain and gloom.

When she heard the hurt in his voice talking about his young sons, Ryan, 9, and Nicholas, 5, and how he didn't even have the stamina to play with them anymore, it broke her heart.

Sure she would give him one of her kidneys if she could, Michelle said. It wasn't even close - trading some temporary pain for this man's life, his future.

It was a Thursday night, around closing time, the girls at Hairitage Quarters remember. Lorena walked in carrying a big bouquet of flowers, and she was crying.

``You're a match,'' she said to Michelle, handing her the flowers.

``We both got hysterical, crying,'' Michelle said Friday. ``Twenty-four years as a hairdresser and this was my first kidney transplant.''

The other hairdressers and customers joined in, joking that if they needed a liver, could Michelle help them out?

Everybody was ecstatic, says Margaret Bertone, who owns the shop. But everyone was also super-protective of Michelle because this was a special woman and they didn't want her to jeopardize her own life and family.

``It didn't surprise any of us that Michelle would do something like this because she is always helping people out,'' she said. ``But we all wanted to know that she would be OK.''

That night, Michelle went home and told her husband, Rene, that the tests were back, and she was a match. She could see the apprehension in his face.

``Did you know that if you donate a kidney, you go right to the top of the transplant list if you or anyone in your family needs one in the future,'' Michelle said, trying to break the tension.

Rene smiled and hugged his wife. He never could say no to her. Besides, he would say later, he and their son were so proud of her, they both wanted to cry.

It was 4 a.m., and the operation was less than six hours away. Michelle couldn't sleep. She got out of bed and took a walk down the hallway at Saint Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles to Tony Ruffino's room.

``Tony, you awake?'' she whispered into the dark room.

``I'm awake,'' came the answer. ``I can't sleep either.''

Tony says they talked for about an hour - about their families, and what's really important in life.

``I told her again I couldn't even start to express what I was feeling because of what she was doing for me,'' he said Friday, recovering at home.

``I was on dialysis for only seven weeks, which wasn't a long time. Without Michelle, I could have been on it for years. She gave me back my life.''

It was about 9 that same night when they wheeled Michelle into the ICU unit to visit Tony.

``The doctors told us the kidney was working perfectly,'' Michelle said. ``We both started crying.''

And now they are home, and the get-well cards and phone calls keep coming in every day.

Don't worry about paying the rent on her space at the salon while she's recuperating, the other hairdressers are saying. They've got it covered.

And all her old, steady customers have been coming by the shop with plates of food for Michelle, and slipping the price of a cut or a perm into the hat being passed around since it'll be another month before Michelle can get back to work and collect a paycheck.

Money she can always make, Michelle says. Giving someone back their life, now that's special.

Yeah, if there's a Hairdressers Hall of Fame, Michelle Garcia is a charter member.

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Photo:

Newhall hairdresser Michelle Garcia, left, and customers Tony and Lorena Ruffino are linked forever after Garcia donated a kidney to Tony Ruffino upon hearing of his dire situation from his wife.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer