Heartfelt gestures abound for man in need of kidneyPublished:Saturday, September 20, 2008
By William K. Alcorn
A pasta dinner fundraiser is set for Sunday.
WARREN — Jenny and Jay Menhennet III celebrate Valentine’s Day in a big way.
Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2000, was the day when Jay, diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic at age 18, received a life-saving kidney donated by his wife.
Now, the Warren couple hope to have another special day to celebrate, this one in October, when Jay is scheduled to receive another kidney transplant at the Cleveland Clinic.
This time, his sister Katie Krejchi of Salt Lake City, Utah, is the donor.
Jay, 43, has struggled with health complications from diabetes for many years, including 13 surgeries on his right leg over a two-year period that finally ended in amputation just below his knee on Nov. 4, 2004.
On March 27, 2007, his body rejected Jenny’s kidney and he now suffers from Stage 5 chronic kidney disease, making it necessary to travel to Akron for dialysis three times a week, a process that takes several hours each trip. Doctors say his only hope for survival is another transplant.
Stage 5 is the most serious stage of kidney disease, indicating kidney function of 15 percent or less, and requiring dialysis or transplantation.
Not surprisingly, the couple are very anxious for the surgery to occur so Jay can be healthy again and they can get back to a normal life.
“I can’t wait. I will be ecstatic when the surgery is scheduled,” Jay said.
“I won’t have to worry all the time about him dying. I want to be old and gray before that happens,” said Jenny, 33, an accountant at Covelli Enterprises in Warren.
Given their experience over the past year, worrying about him dying is not an exaggeration.
He has been hospitalized 19 times since January, including being life-flighted one time and placed in the intensive care unit. There have been scary times for both of them.
“My lowest point was when I had a seizure at home and woke up in the hospital on a ventilator and didn’t know where I was,” Jay said.
“I came home that day and didn’t realize what he was having was a seizure. I thought he was dying,” Jenny said.
The couple met while they were working at Lexington Connector Seals in Vienna and were married March 26, 1997.
Jay, who grew up in California, is on disability and does not work. Jenny, the daughter of Joyce and Ray Buxton of Sandusky, graduated in 1993 from Lakeview High School in Cortland and went to Ohio University, originally planning to go to law school. She eventually transferred to Youngstown State University, where she graduated in 2002 with a business degree in accounting.
“Because I love him, and I love my sister-in-law and appreciate how much she has done for Jay,” is the reason his sister, Katie, 38, said she decided to be tested as a donor.
Katie didn’t offer a kidney the first time because her youngest child was only 18 months old. “I could not leave my baby. That was a terrible feeling. I’m so happy that I am able to be there for him now,” she said.
Now her children, Kate-Lyn and Samantha, are ages 14 and 10. “My kids are sad that Mom is not going to be home for a while, but they understand this is about saving someone’s life. My oldest even offered her kidney,” she said.
Even though the Menhennets are anxious to get their lives back to normal and become more independent, a network of friends and family has developed to help Jay and his wife from transportation to fundraising.
“I hate being dependent on others, but I deeply appreciate all their help,” he said.
Among those helping are Susan Butcher, a member of their church, the North-Mar Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, who coordinates a team of volunteers who provide transportation for Jay’s trips to dialysis and the hospital.
Dottie Billock of Cortland met Jay when he came to the Orthotics and Prosthetics Center in Howland, where she works, for his prosthetic.
Now Billock, under the auspices of the National Foundation for Transplants, is planning fund-raising events for the Menhennets. NFY is a nonprofit organization that helps transplant patients raise funds to pay for transplant-related expenses.
The average kidney transplant costs about $250,000.
Jay has insurance, but there are other significant out-of-pocket expenses.
He will need a lifetime of follow-up care and daily anti-rejection medications, for which there are co-pays.
The medications alone can range from $2,000 to $5,000 each month and are as critical to his survival as the transplant itself, said Carrie Berry, an NFT consultant.
Several fund-raising events are being planned, the first of which is a pasta dinner on Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m. at North Mar Church, 3855 E. Market St.
Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children 12 and younger. Baked goods will be available for additional donations. For tickets or more information, call Tara Billock at (330) 638-5662.
Dottie Bullock, 53, got tested as a living donor when she learned Jay needed a second transplant.
“My husband and daughter said, ‘Go for it.’ I was convinced I was going to be a match, but I wasn’t. I told him since I couldn’t give him a kidney, I’d chair the fundraisers. It has created a nice bond between us,” she said.
People who want to donate money for Jay can mail a tax-deductible donation to NFT Ohio Kidney Fund, 5350 Poplar Ave., Suite 430, Memphis, Tenn. 38119.
The money is earmarked for Jay, and when he gets his pharmacy bills, he sends them to NFT and the bills are paid out of his fund. Donors should write “in honor of Jay Menhennet” on the check memo line.
Secure donations also can be made online at
www.transplants.org. Donors should click on “Patients We Help” to locate Menhennet, Berry said.
“It’s amazing how people will come out and help. I don’t think I could have made it alone and kept my job,” Jenny said.
“Thank God for them,” Jay said.
alcorn@vindy.com
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