One year after kidney transplant, both donor and recipient are doing well

One year after kidney transplant, both donor and recipient are doing well

Friday, August 13, 2010
By Nick Schneider, Assistant Editor

It's been just over a year since Bloomfield native Jonathan "Stewy" Stewart donated his right kidney to the mother of a small child that he really didn't know.

The operation on July 31, 2009 at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis went well.

"I am doing amazing and so is my recipient," the 23-year-old Stewart said in a recent telephone interview. "I don't feel any different than I did when I had both of them (the kidneys)."

There have been no complications since the donor surgery whatsoever, he said.

Stewart, a 2005 Bloomfield Junior-Senior High School, is presently doing an internship at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. -- working the multi-daily parades and some of the attractions.

He's also been added to the Disney Show Choir.

Stewart, a 2010 Indiana University graduate, has applied for a professional management internship also at Disney World and hopes to stay on for a couple more months.

He then plans to pursue a master's degree in musical theater either back home at Indiana University or at the University of South Florida.

"Everything here at Disney is going really swell and I love what I do," Stewart said. "I am having the time of my life. The whole Disney dream and philosophy is something that I definitely live by. There is a dream, magic and hope here, that's one of the main reasons why besides the donation in memory of the two men, I did what I did. Many people at night wish upon a star or send a wish up to God. Before I donated the kidney to her, I did take a trip to Disney and that was a part of it -- the whole idea of dreaming and magic."

Stewart is the son of Dave and Anne Stewart of Bloomfield.

Stewart offered his organ donation in honor of his late uncle, Joseph Anthony Hajdinak, of rural Solsberry, who died Nov. 28, 2008 and also another unnamed "dear friend" from Bloomfield, who had died.

Both died from complications associated with diabetes.

Stewart had intentions to originally donate one of his kidneys to his ill uncle. However, his uncle expectedly died of a heart attack before the transplant could be finalized.

Stewart said the donor experience has been a good one for him and he would do it again.

"I've gotten more satisfaction than I have from anything else in my entire life. People will never understand that there is no greater gift than making sure that you gave somebody a chance at life," he said.

Stewart says he likes to look at his surgery scars as a reminder of the bond he has with his transplant recipient and a reminder of the two he made the donation in their memory.

"I never knew Krishna (Marcoux), but when I found her and did what I did for her, I loved her," he said.

Kidney transplant recipient Krishna Marcoux, of Scipio, Ind., is very grateful for the gift she was given by Stewart.

There have been some ups and downs, but recently her health has stabilized and she's thankful that she's been given new life.

"The seven months following my transplant had me in and out of hospital numerous times due to complications resulting in two additional surgeries and weight gain of 70 pounds," Marcoux told the Greene County Daily World. "I became very depressed, not only from the stress of the transplant, the many complications and the weight gain but people began to treat me differently. It was like I was broken. Nothing that I had been through or done mattered. I was the girl who had the transplant and could go nowhere without being reminded of it."

She is married to Ron Marcoux and the couple has a 3-year-old daughter, Madison.

For Marcoux, a native of North Vernon, health problems have been around for about 10 years.

In 2000, she on was told that her kidneys would not last a year, but they lasted nine.

Six years later, she had to have her right ovary and fallopian tube removed and was told that between kidney damage and having that done she would never have children.

"I found out six months later that I was pregnant and in 2007 delivered my beautiful little girl at only 2 pounds and 10.1 ounces. She spent just a mere 13 days in the NICU and was sent home healthy. With staples still in my stomach from the c-section, I packed and moved the entire contents of our home," Marcoux explained.

In 2008, she had her thyroid removed after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer and before she was given the radioactive iodine treatment, her TSH level capped out at 550.

"I still planned my daughter's first birthday party. I have never given up and always survived. I have not lost this fighting instinct even after the transplant but that is all anyone can see," the 31-year-old Marcoux said. "My doctors felt that doing the transplant before I reached total kidney failure and began dialysis would be beneficial to my recovery and long-term health."

When she was contacted by the organ transplant officials that Stewart was on the donor list, she was already planning a kidney transplant using an organ from her sister-in-law.

The recent months have been much better.

"The last five months have been good and complication free. I still need to lose the excess weight, but I feel good and have adjusted to my new lifestyle and medications and if this heat ever breaks, I can enjoy swinging in my new porch swing that I built inside the newly constructed privacy fence that I put up. I am finally getting back to being me."

Marcoux says no words can express what Stewart has given to her.

"I am very grateful to Jonathan not only for giving me life, but giving my family more life with me. Because of him, I will see my daughter grow. He is a wonderful person and deserves great things. He will always be a part of our family," she said.

"I want people to know that it is not flawless for the recipient or the donor. That is why psychological testing is done and support groups are offered. And maybe others who know someone going through it will understand a little more that it's a treatment and has side effects just like a drug."

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