Officer donates kidney to officer brother

THE GIFT OF A LIFETIME

Officer donates kidney to officer brother

Posted by the Ocean County Observer on 01/4/08
BY PAULA SCULLY
STAFF WRITER

A member of the Long Beach Township Police Department received a special Christmas present from his brother.

Detective Sgt. Steven Melega is home recovering from transplant surgery for a kidney donated by his twin brother Paul Melega, a detective in the Little Egg Harbor Police Department.

Because Steven had juvenile diabetes since age 11, there was a strong possibility that one day he would need a kidney transplant.

"About 20 years ago, we talked about the possibility of him going into kidney failure because of his diabetes," Paul Melega said. "He asked me, "If that ever happened, would you be willing to give me a kidney?' I said, "Of course. There is no doubt in my mind.' "

Steven had started going into kidney failure about three or four years ago, finally going into complete kidney failure after he had hip replacement surgery at Easter 2007. He had been on dialysis for five months at the time of the surgery.

"Steven did all of the research for the transplant," his brother said.

Originally, the brothers had gone to the University of Pennsylvania Health System but the hospital was not willing to do the surgery because Paul had a prior back injury.

After the university turned them down, Steven talked to Sgt. Robert Abrams of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, who suggested that they try Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, which has performed laparoscopic surgery since 1998. The doctors accepted Paul as a potential donor and testing continued for four months.

Steven went to Saint Barnabas once, while Paul went for a series of tests, including blood work, genetic matches, MRI contrast studies, long X-rays, kidney scans, scrutiny of the blood vessels in his kidney and much more.

The Melegas are fraternal twins but their families knew Paul was a genetic match because testing had started a year earlier in November 2006 at the University of Pennsylvania.

As part of the process, the donor and the recipient are each assigned his own set of doctors and advocates.

"That way if anybody is being forced to give (up their organ), they find out about it," said Steven's wife, Lisa Melega.

Paul said he was bothered by the needles involved but his brother "had the worst of it."

"I was there for spare parts if he needed it. That's the way I see it," he said.

About a week and a half before the surgery, Paul met with Dr. Shamkant Mulgaonkar, chief surgeon of the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division, and found out the surgery could proceed. The doctor gave him a book and asked him to pick a date.

Paul called his brother and asked, "What's good for you? How's Dec. 12?"

Little Egg Harbor Police Chief Mark Siino and Long Beach Township Police Chief Michael Bradley were both very supportive of the surgery, the brothers said.

Two surgical teams were involved in the transplant.

Steven, now recovered enough to talk, said the brothers were worried about each other.

"The biggest thing going in was I was crying worrying about (him)," he said. "My brother was doing the same about me. You come out of the surgery, the first thing you says is, "Where's Paul?' and he was saying, "Where's Steve?' You've got to worry about family."

The results were immediate.

"Your color comes back almost instantly," Steven Melaga said. "You feel better."

After spending time in the recovery room, medical center employees put them in the same room.

"There was my brother, lying there with three about-1-inch cuts and one cut that was about 3 inches," Steven said. "He'd never had surgery in his life. They cut me under my belly button to my left hip. They had us standing up after surgery. The two of us shuffled around the bed.

"Paul called his son that day. He was holding up his telephone to his son. I yelled, "Do you know who my hero is? Your daddy.' "

"Paul is our absolute hero," Lisa said. "He saved my husband's life — and we have three kids.

Paul doesn't see it that way.

"I think Steven's a hero for going through this for the last five years," he said, adding that he himself left the hospital in two days.

Paul will return to work on Jan. 7, less than three weeks from the date of surgery.

"We come from a family of seven so we were very fortunate and a lot of local police officers reached out to help, too," Paul said.

As the recipient, Steven has to take immunosuppressive medicine so his body doesn't reject the kidney. Steven's family sterilized the house and visitors are not allowed. The doctors have already started backing down the immunosuppressive drugs.

Recovery for Steven will take three months or more. Bradley, Steven's police chief, said the township is aware of what a giving man Steven is and he, in turn, has received the full support of the township personnel and the commissioners.

Steven said that like his brother, he, too, receives calls from his police department.

"They check on me. Without that kind of support, and the support of my whole family, I don't know how I could have done it," Steven said.

"My brother gave me a kidney, a gift I will never be able to repay."

http://www.timesbeacon.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/NEWS01/801040337