By Andy Brophy

WESTPORT–A former Westport woman whose family has lived in town for three generations tried to donate one of her kidneys to two family members before discovering she herself needs a kidney.

Jeanmarie Wanat, 56, a 1988 graduate of Staples High School who now lives in Stratford, said she wanted to donate a kidney to her father and her uncle but they both refused, saying her brother, a diabetic, may need one of her kidneys in the future.

Last November, Wanat said she was feeling ill and discovered in Bridgeport Hospital that her kidneys were failing. Her kidneys now function at 10 percent, she said in a phone interview.

But Wanat’s blood type is O, meaning she can only accept a kidney from someone whose blood type is also O. O blood types, though, are “universal donors,” meaning they can donate kidneys to someone with any blood type.

Timothy Jagemann, director of marketing and the microsite product manager at the National Kidney Registry (NKR,) said people with an O blood type who need a kidney have a harder time finding one.

Wanat’s family is large and includes a few members with an O blood type, but they had medical issues or were taking medication that prohibited them from donating a kidney, she said.

Wanat is now on a waiting list for a kidney at Yale New Haven Hospital but was told the wait could take up to four years and that she consider trying to find one on her own.

“She just wants to live and she’s looking for a donor,” said Danny Amoruccio of East Norwalk, a friend of Wanat’s who contacted Westport Journal about her search for a kidney.

Jagemann said the four-year timeframe likely applied to kidneys from a deceased donor, while the NKR only works with kidneys from living donors. He said kidneys from living donors typically last twice as long as kidneys from deceased donors – up to 20 years or more – and have fewer rejection issues. The NKR, Jagemann said, conducts extensive tests to ensure a donor kidney is a good match for its intended recipient.

People are normally born with two kidneys but only need one to live.

Jagemann said the wait time for a donor kidney through the NKR is typically six to eight months but could take more than a year.

The NKR, founded in 2007, is “the world’s largest paired exchange organization” and “has facilitated over 11,000 living donor transplants,” according to its website.

Amoruccio, executive director of Willowbrook Cemetery, said he met and became friends with Wanat because Willowbrook Cemetery is the final resting place of many of Wanat’s family members and she had covered the burial costs of family members who couldn’t.

“I run the cemetery and I’ve been burying her family for 11 years,” Amoruccio said. “She’s been the face of that family.”

Wanat said she’s going to Yale New Haven Hospital later this month for tests to determine how her kidneys are functioning and may start dialysis before or after the holidays. She said people with kidney problems typically are on dialysis for three to four years while waiting for a kidney.

“The dialysis will prolong my life … but the kidney will really prolong my life,” she said.

Amoruccio said he’s not trying to raise money for Wanat – only to find a kidney.

“It’s a preventable death,” he said, adding he wanted to reach out to the public about Wanat’s need for a kidney because, “I’ve never met such a generous person.”

The NKR website says there’s no charge to register with the NKR or use its kidney matching service.

But a kidney recipient faces costs associated with the transplant, hospitalization and post-surgery immunosuppressant drugs, though those costs may be largely covered through private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, according to the NKR’s website.

Andy Brophy

Andy Brophy is an experienced Fairfield County journalist. Andy was a staff writer at The Connecticut Post for 10 years. He also wrote for the Norwalk Hour, Fairfield Minuteman, Fairfield Patch and weekly newspapers in Westport, Fairfield and Norwalk. When not reporting, Andy enjoys playing chess and listening to pianist Art Tatum. ^_.