Madison wife agrees to donate kidney so husband can receive one

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AN EXCHANGE OF HOPE
Madison wife agrees to donate kidney so husband can receive one

By SALLY CAPONE, Staff Writer
Published: Jul 31st, 7:12 AM
MADISON – Thanks to a nine-year-old kidney exchange program, the Parisi family of Gibbons Place is breathing a collective sigh of relief. Just a day before Wayne Parisi was to receive a kidney transplant from his wife, Linda, back in February, it was discovered that his body wouldn’t accept it.

Rather than wait and hope for a kidney to become available, the couple entered the Alliance for Paired Donation program, a registry in which pairs around the country agree that one member of each pair will donate a kidney so the other member can receive one.

The Alliance facilitates the exchange, which addresses the problem the Parisis faced of a donor who is willing but incompatible. In the exchange, a donor in one pair agrees to give a kidney to a compatible recipient, in order for the pair to receive one in return. Under the Alliance’s “Good Samaritan” ethic, the transplants do not have to be performed simultaneously.

By May, a donor had been found for Wayne Parisi, and he received his new kidney on May 28 from a donor in Michigan. Linda Parisi donated hers on June 11 to a recipient in Ohio.

“It took me three weeks to feel better because I had a fever,” said Mrs. Parisi, noting that the typical recovery time is usually a lot shorter.

The reason for the delay in February was because even though Mrs. Parisi was a good match as a donor for her husband, in the end, a key procedure indicated the match wasn’t good enough.

The delay was particularly disappointing because Wayne Parisi had gone through seven treatments to prepare for his wife’s donation.

“I’m still recuperating, but I feel good,” said Mr. Parisi, nearly two months after his surgery at the St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston.

Wayne Parisi is no stranger to transplants. When he was 24, his kidneys began to fail. He underwent his first transplant at that time with a donation from the body of an 18-year-old New Jersey man, who died in a motorcycle accident.

Last year, Mr. Parisi learned his kidney was failing, and in November he began regular dialysis to remove the toxins building up in his blood.

Now, with the new kidney, Mr. Parisi is no longer dependent on dialysis, which took four hours of treatment three days a week. But he still has to restrict his sodium intake, although not as much as before the surgery, Linda Parisi said.

Originally from Middlesex County, the Parisis came to Madison 10 years ago after a construction job brought Wayne Parisi to the borough, and he liked what he saw. Since then, he has built seven homes on Gibbons Place.

Linda Parisi has been a sales associate at Re/Max on Main Street for three and one-half years.

The Parisis’ four children attend Madison schools. Alexis, 17, just graduated from Madison High School; Blake, 14, is about to enter Madison High School; and Nicole, 10, and Krysta, 7, both attend the Torey J. Sabatini School on Glenwild Circle.

“People don’t realize that there are 70,000 people on a waiting list for a transplant; it can take five to seven years to receive a cadaver kidney,” Linda Parisi said, adding she hoped word of the exchange program will get out.

“We got very lucky,” she said.

Information about the Alliance for Paired Donation is available at its Web site, at www.paireddonation.org.
http://www.recordernewspapers.com/articles/2009/07/31/madison_eagle/news/doc4a7092d88a901676953962.txt