Giving life to her dad

Assemblyman Ed Ra, left, commended Jenna Monteleone for her bravery in donating a kidney to her father. They had the operation on Sept. 10.

Steve Smirti/Herald

New York State Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) presented H. Frank Carey graduate Jenna Monteleone with the Gift of Life award at the Jan. 7 Carey Dad’s Club meeting. The award is given out in conjunction with the state organ donation organization, Live on New York.

Monteleone donated a kidney to her ailing father, Andrew, in September. The operation was successful and Andrew recently returned to work.

“It certainly was a sacrifice and she saved her father’s life,” Ra told the Herald. “I think it’s an incredible thing and I think it’s important that we do what we can to recognize when people do things like that.”

Andrew had been suffering from kidney disease for 25 years. In October of 2014, his condition worsened and he was about to go into kidney failure. He was put on dialysis and added to the transplant list. As the months passed, and her father went without a new kidney, Jenna took it upon herself to get tested to see if she was a match. Thankfully for her father, she was. After a long family discussion, it was decided that Jenna and Andrew would go forward with the operation. As with any operation there is a level of risk and it was something that continued to weigh on Andrew even on the day of the procedure.

“Even that day at the hospital, it’s 6 a.m. and I said ‘Jenna if you want to back down, believe me I understand’, Andrew said said. “I must have told her 100 times that she can back down.”

Andrew has two other children; both however were not a match. They too were tested behind their father’s back.

“I was just so proud,” Andrew said. “What could I give to my daughter to repay her. I can just continue to give her love but I was shocked and overwhelmed by it.”

In addition to the health risk, Andrew also didn’t want her daughter missing a large amount of school. Jenna is a sophomore at Adelphi University. That was one of the benefits of having the operation early in the semester. As it turned out, Jenna only wound up missing two weeks of class. She was released from the hospital the following day, Sept. 11.

Donating an organ was an easy decision for Jenna. She didn’t want her father to be sick anymore. He missed many family outings and holidays due to his fatigue and illness, so being able to end that disappointment was an easy choice.

“He’s so much better, just more alive,” said Jenna.