VIDEO: For Portland firefighter Venedo Alcazar, the timing couldn’t have lined up better. In December 2024, FOX 12 shared Alcazar’s story: a longtime firefighter living with stage five chronic kidney disease, searching for a transplant. At the time, his kidney function had dropped to just 15%.
Watching from the sidelines was Dr. Karen Douek, a retired nephrologist who, at the time, was a stranger to Alcazar. Douek had been hoping to donate a kidney to a former patient she was very close to. But on Dec. 24, 2024, her life took an unexpected turn.
While biking, Douek was involved in a serious accident, breaking several ribs and a vertebra. The firefighters who helped pick her up off the street that day were members of Portland Fire & Rescue’s Station 5 — a station that Alcazar has a working history with.
