By Nicole Falco
"I knew what I was going through, but I didn't want to go through it all over again." Peritore said. "I just wanted to live a normal life."
Last October, Peritore was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure for the second time in his life - and he's only 26. The kidney he had received from a cadaver donor almost nine years earlier was no longer doing its job. A blood test showed that his creatinine levels were high, which meant his kidney function was low.
This time, Peritore, a Central High School graduate, won't have to put his name on a list for a kidney transplant, along with some 47,000 other people who wait for a kidney each year, according to the National Institutes of Health. His father, John, 51, is a match, and spent much of last month traveling back and forth to doctors to make sure he was healthy enough to donate one of his kidneys to his son.
With a green light from their doctors, father and son await word from the transplant team at Mount Sinai Hospital on when their simultaneous surgeries will take place. If all goes well, John should be out of the hospital within two days and fully recovered within four to six weeks, and Sal should be home within five days.
A congenital defect
Sal Peritore was born with an obstruction between his ureter and bladder. The ureter is the duct that carries urine from the kidneys to the bladder, which then releases the fluid through the urethra. It was Peritore's grandmother, who raised three sons herself, who noticed that he wasn't urinating properly, although, according to his mother, Roseann, 53, the family's pediatrician treated him for indigestion at first.
"He was constantly crying, crying, crying," John said. "He wouldn't tolerate his formula. He was colicky. It turns out he was having renal failure."
The family turned to a second pediatrician, who determined that the newborn was anemic. At two months old, Peritore was back in the hospital. He spent his first Christmas and New Year's at North Shore University Medical Center, where doctors removed the blockage, but damage had already been done to Peritore's left kidney and ureter. His right kidney was working, but it too wasn't at 100 percent.
At 18 months, Peritore underwent a second surgery to remove, stretch and reimplant his ureter, which had become twisted and dilated, causing urine to back up into his kidneys. Then, when he was 5, urologists at North Shore decided to remove Peritore's left kidney because it had become a constant source of infections.
Though his health was monitored, Peritore led a mostly normal childhood, even playing baseball for the Valley Stream Little League. "The doctors told us when he was a baby that his right kidney would probably only last till he was 16 or 17, then it was going to go," John said.
The doctors were right
At 16, Peritore began experiencing terrible pains in his legs. Not knowing the cause, he guessed it was anything from a pulled muscle to Lyme disease. "He got to the point where he was crawling up the stairs because he couldn't walk," John said.
A blood test showed that his creatinine levels were abnormally high, even for him. Adding to that, Peritore's right hip began deteriorating, which isn't uncommon for someone suffering from kidney disease. Besides waste removal, kidneys help regulate the body's salt, potassium and acid content, and produce vitamin D for healthy bones and hormones that help stimulate the production of red blood cells, regulate blood pressure and control calcium metabolism.
In 1996, Peritore underwent an operation to have pins placed in both hips - he would eventually have a partial hip replacement in 2002 - and a stent in his back to drain his kidneys. He also began dialysis four times a week. "It's like drinking a gallon of water nonstop," Peritore explained. "That bloated feeling, that heaviness in the stomach - that's what it feels like."
Peritore's name was placed on a kidney transplant waiting list, and at the same time his father began undergoing tests to determine if he was a viable donor. Though the family was told it could take two years or more to find a donor, a cadaver donor became available within two weeks. The family decided to go with the cadaver donor. They were one of the lucky families. The National Kidney Foundation estimates that about 4,000 people die each year waiting for transplants.
"We were so naive then," Roseann said. "We really didn't have the knowledge, the education that we do today. We walked in fear back then for his life, and we trusted that that was the answer. Sal really made that cadaver kidney work as long as it did. They usually only last three to five years."
On Feb. 1, 1997, Peritore underwent the transplant operation at Westchester Medical, since such procedures were not done at North Shore, his primary hospital. At first, the operation didn't seem to be the success the family had hoped. At the same time, Roseann's mother was dying. Family members, especially Roseann, relied on their faith to get them through the difficult time.
"I became very spiritual, because there were no answers in that period of time," Roseann said. "I was attending Unity Church [of Christianity in Valley Stream]. The teachers there were strongly supporting me and uplifting me through everything we were experiencing."
Eventually, after numerous trips to the hospital, much medication, a second procedure and help from a hands-on healer, the transplanted kidney began to function properly.
Still optimistic
Despite numerous setbacks, which most recently included John's being laid off by his employer, JohnsonDiversey, after 29 years, the family, including Peritore's younger sister, Stephanie, 21, is tight-knit and able to maintain a sense of humor.
Since being diagnosed with renal failure for the second time, Peritore has had to quit his job as a medical technician, but his illness didn't stop him from completing the necessary requirements to be certified as a hemodialysis technician. His desire for a career in the medical field is no fluke. "I'm in and out of the hospital all the time - I might as well get paid for it," he said.
"I still want to achieve all the usual goals - get a good job, have a family - that's why I hope this kidney works out and I won't need another kidney for 20 or 30 years."
John is happy to be able to give his son the gift of life. "With all the trouble he's had, he's still looking to do something with his life," his father said.
Comments about this story? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
