Kidney Transplant for Steve

I decided to post this email I received from my Mom's cousin Mike. Steve is his nephew. He has been updating us concerning the need for a transplant for Steve. If you you these last few emails you will see that Steve did receive the transplant and is progressing with his new kidney. If you are able to be prayful or help financially I know both areas would be appreciated. ~Jennifer



Dear Friends,

Good news. It seems the kidney is starting to work!! It is not yet fully functional but the doctors feel good that it will be soon. They said the body is showing no signs of rejecting the kidney so everything looks positive. Steve will continue to be on dialysis however until the kidney is fully functional. While Steve and the family are optimistic they all will breathe a sigh of relief when the kidney is fully functional. Let's hope it is soon. Don't stop praying!

Many of you have gotten back to me saying that although you couldn't donate one of your kidneys (because of having the wrong blood type, or couldn't get time off for work, etc) you did want to know if you could help out financially. The answer is YES.

Last year when Jim donated his kidney to Steve, Jim had put away $10,000 to cover the costs (hotel, food, transportation, etc.). It wasn't enough. They are still in debt from that experience. Now with this transplant occurring without warning only 1 year later, there was no time to save to get ready for it. Again, since it is out of town, the family has hotel, food and transportation expenses. So they definitely will need help. I think Insurance covers 80% of the medical expenses but that's all.

If you can send anything at all please send a check to:

Jim Scarduzio
4 Crofton Commons
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

Please include a note that you are a friend of mine so they will know where you found out about their need.

Please forward this to your distribution list. They have been through so much and if a lot of people can send them money it would sure help.

Thank you so much for your help.


A. Mike Segalo



Dear Friends,

Late Monday afternoon my brother Jim got a call from New York (he lives in the Philadelphia area) saying that there might be a possible match for a kidney for Steve!! They said the kidney is coming in from another hospital and they think it might be a match. They said to get up to New York as soon as possible. They said you can't wait until we know for sure. You need to start coming up here within the hour and we will call you in your car to let you know whether to turn around and go back home or whether to continue coming here.

Steve was actually in dialysis at the time of the call so they had to wait until he got home before they could head up to New York. As they were driving they were told to keep coming because everything looked good. When Steve got to New York they took a blood sample and then they had to wait a couple of hours to see if the test showed that it was a match. The test came back positive! Then they decided that since Steve has been through so many situations where things have gone wrong they would do another test on him and the kidney. They were told that this would take 5 more hours. They just wanted to be absolutely sure. This test also came back positive!! It was a perfect match. So they took Steve into surgery around 8 AM Tuesday. They told Jim and Flori that they were going to take their time and make sure every possible thing was done to make this a success. The surgery normally takes about 5 hours. It actually took a little over 7 hours.

Now the next step of course is that the kidney needs to start working. Sometimes it starts right after surgery and sometimes it takes a few hours and sometimes it takes a few days. It is now about 22 hours after the surgery and the kidney has not yet started working.

Obviously we are all sitting on pins and needles right now. Please continue to pray for Steve that God will bless him and start the kidney so that it will work perfectly and for many years.

I will keep you posted on the progress.


Mike