Robert 'Hollywood' perseveres while waiting for kidney donor

Three days a week, Robert Moreno wakes up at 4 a.m. at his Menifee home and heads to a clinic for 5 ½ hours of dialysis. A machine removes from his body the fluid that his damaged kidneys cannot.

By the time he’s finished and returns home, he is pretty much wiped out for the rest of the day. He has the next day to rest, then starts the process all over again.

“I go home, eat, and sleep,” said the entertainer known to his fans as Robert “Hollywood”. The next day I try to wake up at 6 or 7 and start my day.”

Those days often consist of serving as MC for entertainment events, where he works the crowd and sings to the audience in supporting charity events. For 20 years, he has worked with Menifee resident Robbie Motter, who is well known for her public service and fundraising efforts throughout Southern California.

“Today he had dialysis, but tonight he’s here with me to speak at an event in Long Beach,” Motter said by phone one recent evening. “He is a role model. He shows that just because something happens to you, life doesn’t stop. If you can get over that, look at all you can do.”

Motter (below right, with Hollywood) has a testimony of the same spirit. As a cancer survivor, she has fought back to remain active in community events. She wants her longtime friend to be able to do the same.

But to do that, Robert Hollywood needs some help.

Like so many others, Hollywood is on a waiting list for a kidney donor. His family members didn’t qualify as a donor because of their age. Motter can’t be a donor because of her age and health history. And so he waits, and waits, and waits, through the stressful dialysis treatments, hoping someone will come forward who will be a match.

Otherwise, waiting for a random donor off the list will take years.

“They told me in 12 years, I should have one,” Hollywood said. “It takes two years just to qualify. And once you qualify, it’s 10-12 years. And you can’t miss any dialysis or you won’t qualify.”

Hollywood said his insurance pays only 20 percent of the cost, which is building up fast. He realizes that qualifying as a donor is a difficult process; potential donors must match him in 20 different categories. Yet he continues to hope more will volunteer to donate a kidney. Even if they don’t match him, they might match another on the list.

“If you’re healthy to donate but you’re not a match, you go into the buddy system,” said Hollywood, explaining that this improves his chances on the waiting list. “The younger and stronger you are, the better your chances.

“I have to look at myself as an athlete. I have to tell my body that I have to fight back. I’m not doing this for the rest of my life.”

Hollywood worked again with Motter as MC of Extravaganza 4, a night of entertainment that raised money for the Menifee/Sun City Woman’s Club and the Boys & Girls Club of Menifee. Their relationship is a special one.

“Hollywood has been doing this sort of greatness for 18 years,” Motter said. “He has a special way with the audience. I always ask and say, ‘I need you, but I can’t pay you.’ He is always there for me.”