thedrifter
05-24-08, 11:19 AM
Newsday.com
Ex-Marine donates kidney to fellow Vietnam veteran
BY RHODA AMON
rhoda.amon@newsday.com
May 23, 2008
When William Kelly was introduced to James Donahue at a neighborhood pub about 20 years ago, he didn't pay him much attention. But when Kelly, 61, learned that Donahue, 55, was a fellow Marine veteran, the two quickly became lasting friends.
"There's a bond between Marines that lasts our entire life. We're brothers," Kelly said.
This spring, Kelly proved it. He donated a kidney to his friend, who was in desperate need of one.
"I became a new person," said Donahue, of Bayside.
The two Vietnam War veterans were brought together again yesterday for a news conference at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
The conference also celebrated the hospital's new kidney transplantation center, which opened last October and last month was accredited for Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Donahue's medical problems began in 2006 when he suffered heart failure and needed a mitral valve replacement and pacemaker. About the same time his kidneys shut down and for 14 months he was on dialysis. "It takes over your life," he said. "It's four to five hours a day, three days a week."
He was told he would have to wait seven to nine years for a kidney transplant.
Donahue, an arbor consultant who enlisted in the Marines at age 19 in 1972, mentioned his despair to Kelly, while they were watching football together last winter. Kelly, a retired electrician who enlisted at 17 in 1964, responded: "Maybe I can do something."
During the next three months, the men were tested for kidney compatibility. They proved to be a good match.
"I didn't think about it much until I was wheeled into the operating room," said Kelly, of Flushing. "I just felt I did my best."
"Bill Kelly is my hero," said Donahue's wife, Marianne.
North Shore's program, the first in the Nassau-Queens area, has "done eight transplants so far - all successful," said Donna Dalton, administrative director. In Suffolk, Stony Brook University Hospital has a kidney transplant program.
"We could do a lot more if people would donate kidneys," said Dr. Ernesto Molmenti, surgical director of the program.
Molmenti and his team performed the simultaneous surgery that left Donahue with three kidneys, but only one functioning well.
Kelly was left with one healthy kidney.
"It was a wonderful case - there was so much friendship, such patriotism," Molmenti said. "One gave the gift of life to the other."
Nationwide, he said, 75,000 people need kidney transplants. They make up the majority of the more than 100,000 patients waiting for organ donations. "It's the greatest gift you can give," said Kelly.
Ellie
Ex-Marine donates kidney to fellow Vietnam veteran
BY RHODA AMON
rhoda.amon@newsday.com
May 23, 2008
When William Kelly was introduced to James Donahue at a neighborhood pub about 20 years ago, he didn't pay him much attention. But when Kelly, 61, learned that Donahue, 55, was a fellow Marine veteran, the two quickly became lasting friends.
"There's a bond between Marines that lasts our entire life. We're brothers," Kelly said.
This spring, Kelly proved it. He donated a kidney to his friend, who was in desperate need of one.
"I became a new person," said Donahue, of Bayside.
The two Vietnam War veterans were brought together again yesterday for a news conference at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
The conference also celebrated the hospital's new kidney transplantation center, which opened last October and last month was accredited for Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Donahue's medical problems began in 2006 when he suffered heart failure and needed a mitral valve replacement and pacemaker. About the same time his kidneys shut down and for 14 months he was on dialysis. "It takes over your life," he said. "It's four to five hours a day, three days a week."
He was told he would have to wait seven to nine years for a kidney transplant.
Donahue, an arbor consultant who enlisted in the Marines at age 19 in 1972, mentioned his despair to Kelly, while they were watching football together last winter. Kelly, a retired electrician who enlisted at 17 in 1964, responded: "Maybe I can do something."
During the next three months, the men were tested for kidney compatibility. They proved to be a good match.
"I didn't think about it much until I was wheeled into the operating room," said Kelly, of Flushing. "I just felt I did my best."
"Bill Kelly is my hero," said Donahue's wife, Marianne.
North Shore's program, the first in the Nassau-Queens area, has "done eight transplants so far - all successful," said Donna Dalton, administrative director. In Suffolk, Stony Brook University Hospital has a kidney transplant program.
"We could do a lot more if people would donate kidneys," said Dr. Ernesto Molmenti, surgical director of the program.
Molmenti and his team performed the simultaneous surgery that left Donahue with three kidneys, but only one functioning well.
Kelly was left with one healthy kidney.
"It was a wonderful case - there was so much friendship, such patriotism," Molmenti said. "One gave the gift of life to the other."
Nationwide, he said, 75,000 people need kidney transplants. They make up the majority of the more than 100,000 patients waiting for organ donations. "It's the greatest gift you can give," said Kelly.
Ellie