A true story in three acts

A true story in three acts

By Fran Heller
Contributing Writer
Published: Friday, January 16, 2009 1:10 AM EST

Two people: A man and a woman. He needed a kidney; she had one to donate.

This is their story.

PROLOGUE

In December 2003, Brian Zoldessy’s world fell apart. An award-winning director, actor and assistant professor and director of the theater arts department at Cuyahoga Community College-Eastern Campus, he would spend the better part of 2004 in the hospital, the result of severe dehydration, renal failure and a damaged artery. It brought him to the brink of death.

Zoldessy was put on emergency dialysis, and in May 2005, his name was added to the kidney transplant list for a donor.

Enter Jacqi Loewy, a notable freelance director, actor, playwright and artistic director of Charenton Theatre Company. Loewy first heard about Zoldessy’s plight through her good friends, Randi and Fred Sternfeld. Although she and Zoldessy are well-known theater artists in the community, neither knew the other well.

ACT I – BEFORE THE TRANSPLANT

While waiting for a transplant, Zoldessy’s health continued to deteriorate.

In December 2007, his nephrologist, Dr. Jeffrey Lautman, confirmed his worst fears: If he didn’t get a transplant, he would have to go back on dialysis in five or six months’ time. This diagnosis set in motion the frantic search for a donor.

Zoldessy describes dialysis as an “awful” process that takes place three to four times a week for three to four hours at a clip. “It completely exhausts you.” Being on dialysis also complicates being a successful kidney recipient.

Zoldessy confided his concerns and fears to Fred Sternfeld, his best friend, whom he met for breakfast at Corky & Lenny’s every Friday morning. In March 2008, Loewy joined the guys at one of their weekly get-togethers.

Two things Zoldessy said at that breakfast really affected her, recalls the outgoing and animated, auburn-haired director and actor. The first was how he compared being on a kidney list to that of the understudy who never gets to go on stage. The Clinic would call to tell him they had a kidney and he should pack his bags. Then they would call back a short while later to retract the offer because they had to give the organ to someone who was a closer match. That happened six nerve-wracking times, says Zoldessy.

Loewy’s second shock was that two of Zoldessy’s brothers were refusing to get tested. (The best kidney match is from a sibling.) This hit Loewy hard. Like Zoldessy, she comes from a family that isn’t close. Loewy decided right then she would look into being a donor … but told no one.

The 53-year-old says her strongest reason for offering her kidney was due to the fact that she never had children.

“I look around at all my friends with families, and I think, ‘Everyone has done something important that they will leave here. I never did that. I thought that this would be a way to leave something permanent.’”

Once Loewy made her decision, friends and family members tried to dissuade her. Her father told her, “I think you’re crazy doing this for someone you hardly know.” But her supportive brother said, “Cool.”

Everyone in the theater community was extremely supportive. Sternfeld was more than supportive; he was pushing, admits Loewy.

Loewy didn’t want to tell Zoldessy of her decision because if the Clinic found something to make her ineligible, she didn’t want to disappoint him. But the Clinic was urging Loewy to tell him, as was Sternfeld. She finally agreed but wanted a day or two to think about how to do it.

“Too late,” Sternfeld e-mailed. “I just called him.”

Zoldessy’s initial reaction to the news was “how incredible.” Having been through so much, however, he tempered his enthusiasm with pragmatism. He knew Loewy had to go through the long and laborious testing process and that at any point something could go wrong.

Loewy spent the whole month of July, for several hours each day, undergoing a complete physical work-up, being tested for everything that has any bearing on the kidney. Psychological testing confirmed that she was a viable candidate who was willing to do this for the right reasons.

Loewy knew this was major surgery and that she could die as a result. She was also told that she could back out at any time, even up to the moment they wheeled her into the operating room.

Loewy remained resolute from the start. Her only fear was that her medical team would find a reason to reject her as a donor. That never happened.

ACT II – THE TRANSPLANT

The surgery took place Aug. 20, 2008. Donor and recipient each had individual teams of surgeons.

Loewy’s surgeon, Dr. Inderbir S. Gill, pioneered the method used in Loewy’s kidney removal: entry made through the navel without any incision. She was only the 12th person in the world to have it done that way. The operation lasted eight hours.

The donor remained in the hospital for four days. Friends from the theater community were with her around the clock.

After returning home, Loewy experienced a letdown. “The night before the surgery, you’re on a real high,” she explains. “When it’s over, there is a great deal of physical pain.” Because Loewy is holistic and averse to taking drugs, she refused painkillers.

It’s been four months since the transplant. Loewy has no physical or dietary restrictions, nor does she have to take any medication. There is still the possibility, however, that one kidney could shorten her life. If her kidney fails, there is no back-up. She insists she is not afraid.

Zoldessy was not fearful of the surgery or the pain or even of dying, he maintains. “My biggest fear was that I would open my eyes and learn that it (the kidney) rejected. Where would that leave me? Would I be in the same condition or a worse condition? Would I have to go back on dialysis?”

Zoldessy’s surgery, which should have lasted eight hours, turned into a grueling 12-13 hour operation. In the recovery room, Zoldessy’s ex-wife Vicki (who remains his best friend) told Zoldessy he had a new and functioning kidney. It was music to his ears.

Following surgery, Zoldessy stayed in the hospital for eight days. On one of those days, he celebrated his 55th birthday.

His nephrologist, Dr. Lautman, an Orthodox Jew, would often talk to Zoldessy, who is Jewish, about the healing effects of prayer. After the transplant, he referred Zoldessy to three prayers, which he now recites every morning and evening.

The road to recovery has not been without its bumps. The three-month hurdle was passed in November. The six-month hurdle in February comes next. If Zoldessy passes, he will be released from the Clinic to his own doctor, and his medication will be reduced.

Zoldessy’s daily routine includes a lot of self-monitoring. He takes 40 pills a day; most are immuno-suppressants, because his immune system is now compromised. The new kidney, he says, is working very well. (Because of his donor’s excellent health, Zoldessy received the best kidney possible.)

Nonetheless, rejection remains an omnipresent issue. He must be hyper-vigilant about catching an infection, which precludes having a pet or gardening, and he must wash and sterilize his hands nonstop. Because of all the meds he takes, he is at risk for skin cancer and can’t be in the sun.

Since 2003, Zoldessy guesstimates his medical bills at $1.5 million. Fortunately he has great insurance.

Zoldessy’s outlook is realistic. “I could have a very long life, but anything at any point could go wrong.” While he feels great physically, Zoldessy suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, major side effects of the plethora of medications he takes daily. He’s being treated for this.

To escape his negative thoughts, Zoldessy just thinks of what Loewy did and what the medication is doing for him. “I would never be receiving this medication to make my kidney viable if it weren’t for Jacqi,” he says gratefully.

While the world she inhabits has put Loewy on a pedestal (some have called her a saint), she doesn’t walk around with a halo over her head. “I feel I did what I was meant to do,” she says matter-of-factly. A member of The Temple-Tifereth Israel, Loewy believes that organ donation and bettering the world is a very Jewish act.

ACT III – THE AFTERMATH

To encourage others to donate organs, Zoldessy and Loewy are hoping to do some public advocacy. Loewy thinks that if more people knew about what was involved, they would be more receptive to organ donation. “If you plant the seeds by reading an article like this one, maybe someone down the line will do the same thing,” she says.

Some 92,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S., with only 6,000-9,000 donors on the various lists, notes Zoldessy; of those waiting, the largest percentage are people in need of kidneys.

The support network and outpouring of response from the theater community was nothing short of miraculous. Loewy knows of at least five other theater artists who looked into being donors. “The theater community by its very nature consists of people who consider their peers family,” she explains. “It’s a close-knit community with people working toward the same creative goal.”

Loewy has played many roles in her life, but she affirms that one of her most meaningful ones has involved the kidney transplant. As for Zoldessy, has this new lease on life changed his life’s focus and direction in any way?

“Absolutely,” he affirms. “Theater is vitally important to me, but not as important as it used to be.” He can now travel by airplane, fish and camp, and visit friends and family. Zoldessy’s three brothers, from whom he had been estranged, are now back in his life.

EPILOGUE

“I can’t wait to do my first role as a healthy person,” Zoldessy told Sternfeld. He will soon have that chance. Zoldessy is directing the world première of “Cleveland Heights” by Keith Reddin, a play about Jewish Cleveland. The JCC production runs Feb. 26 - March 15 at the Performance Arts Center, CCC Eastern Campus. He will also play a small role in that production.

Loewy is directing Neil Simon’s “The Good Doctor” at Ensemble Theatre at The Cleveland Play House, running Jan. 16-Feb. 1.

For Zoldessy, the greatest compliment came in an e-mail from a friend. Most of it was about what Loewy did and how unbelievably brave and selfless she was. One sentence about how she had saved a vital theater person really resonated with Zoldessy.

“She gave me my life back, my relationship with my kids (Zoldessy has two grown daughters), the longevity maybe to become a grandfather and to have a much easier way through life.”

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2009/01/20/news/local/doc496f485e21fad243582100.txt