OUR OPINION: An attitude of altruism

OUR OPINION: An attitude of altruism

The Patriot Ledger
Posted Apr 28, 2008 @ 10:43 AM

QUINCY —

The old saw goes, “You can’t take it with you.”

David Fairbanks of Hingham apparently took that to heart and decided to give up one of his kidneys now, while he’s still around.

Because of the decision by the 52-year-old postal worker, a total stranger in New York literally got a second life and with it a chance to watch his children and grandchildren grow.

But that is not the whole story because the decision by Fairbanks – dubbed an “altruistic donor” in the organ transplant field – actually allowed three people to receive new kidneys.

Fairbanks last week for the first time met Ben Crescenzo, a 65-year-old carpenter from Wallkill, N.Y., at the New Jersey hospital where the transplant took place.

A few years back, Fairbanks had read an article about a millionaire who gave away his fortune and then a kidney. The Hingham father of three teens could not shake the impact.

“Most of the time a person’s life is pretty predictable and really it doesn’t amount to much and you want to do something that’s larger than life,” Fairbanks said.

So during school’s spring vacation last year, he took a day to go into Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and was tested and his name put on a living donor list.

That is just one of the things that makes Fairbanks gift so notable, his decision to be a donor without having a specific recipient in mind.

In 2006, nearly 4,000 people died because a donor could not be found. There were more than 17,000 kidney transplants that year but nearly 71,000 sick and suffering people are on a waiting list.

There were 6,433 living donors in 2006 but the remainder came from cadavers. But most of the living donors are related to the recipient and there’s not always a readily available match.

In Crescenzo’s case, a close family friend offered her kidney but it was not a match. At the same time, a Fort Lee, N.J. man on dialysis did match Crescenzo’s friend but the man’s wife was no match for either. However, she did match a man in New Hampshire and Fairbanks matched Crescenzo so the transplant opera was set in play on Dec. 14, with a kidney from New Jersey flown up here and Fairbanks winging its way to Crescenzo.

The reunion was joyous last week at St. Barnabas Medical Center but it may never have happened without Fairbanks selfless gesture. And while he may still have trouble explaining his reasons behind giving up a piece of himself, his philosophy is one everyone should transplant into their psyche.

“Once in a while you have to step outside your life and you have to make a difference in a bigger way,” he said.

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