If a dog answers, don't hang up

baltimoresun.com

If a dog answers, don't hang up

Laura Vozzella

October 28, 2007

A. Robert Kaufman is closer to getting a kidney, no thanks to how he's listed in the phone book.

Baltimore's most steadfast Socialist, who's always running for something, including mayor this year, has never persuaded many citizens to give him their votes. But someone who saw him in the televised mayoral debate in August wants to give him a kidney.

Kaufman has been in need of a kidney and on dialysis ever since a near-fatal beating and stabbing in 2005. He never misses a chance to make a public plea for an organ. Debate night was no exception. Somebody out there watching on TV thought, "Why not?"

"His story touched me," said that somebody, a 50ish salesman who asked not to be identified by name. "I really don't want any publicity. This isn't about that. It's about a person helping another person. It's not a big deal."

The guy will say this much about himself: His desire to share an organ does not spring from a Kaufmanesque share-the-wealth ideology.

"I don't even agree with his politics," the guy said. "I think they're futile. In fact, I think they're funny. He's a very brilliant man, I'm sure, but his politics are his politics."

The compassionate capitalist tried to look Kaufman up in the book. But there's no A. Robert Kaufman listed. Most people know Kaufman by Robert, or Bob. So Kaufman lists himself as Robert A. Kaufman.

"To help people find me, I put my dog's name, too," Kaufman said. "So it's 'Robert A. and Fang Kaufman.' I told them [at the phone company] it's my brother's name."

Fang wasn't much help to the potential kidney patron, who has never met Kaufman, much less his dog, who died 20 years ago. The guy was at a loss, so frustrated that he recently grumbled about his failed Kaufman quest to a stranger with whom he'd struck up a conversation at Starbucks in the Inner Harbor.

The stranger happened to be a friend of Kaufman's since childhood, and he still had his number.

The rest, as they say, is ... well, just the beginning of the long, complicated transplant process.

Kaufman and the prospective donor share the same blood type, A, which Kaufman tells me is not essential, but helpful. The prospective donor said he's been deemed a suitable donor, but it's possible that his kidney will be considered a better match for another patient. If that's the case, Kaufman would get somebody else's organ in one of those elaborate transplant switcheroos. No telling when that would actually come to pass, but Kaufman has hope.

The serendipitous Starbucks encounter has convinced the capitalist that the donation won't just happen, but was meant to be. "I believe in divine intervention," he said. "I have a strong belief in the spirit."

What does the Socialist say about that?

"I'm an atheist but thank God."

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