By Mary Malloy
"Volunteering has been a way of life for me," said McGuinness, a former Lynbrook firefighter who was with the Tally-Ho Engine Co. 3 for 12 years. "I wanted to do something to honor the firefighters who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks, and for those who are fighting in the war."
"Thanks to the altruism of one man and the extraordinary teamwork of our clinical team, three patients' lives have been saved," said Dr. Lloyd Ratner, director of renal and pancreatic transplantation at New York Presbyterian/University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell and professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
According to New York Presbyterian /University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, six surgical transplant teams, including 40 clinicians, working simultaneously in six operating rooms successfully performed the transplants on three recipients who otherwise would have no compatible donors. Called a three-way kidney swap, McGuinness's left kidney was donated to Helen Taranto, a 56-year-old woman from Warwick, N.Y., who has suffered from Lupus for the last 36 years. His kidney was a perfect match for her.
"My whole life has changed because of him," she said of McGuinness. "He and my husband are two angels." Taranto's husband, Ron, wanted to donate his kidney to help his wife, but although he was the same tissue type, he was not the same blood type. He did turn out to be a match for a 54-year-old New York City woman. That woman's brother-in-law was the donor for Trevor Archer of Yonkers, who was on the hospital's waiting list for two years. In a kidney swap, a relative can secure a kidney for a loved one who otherwise has no compatible donor by donating a kidney to someone else. To ensure that the family member of the kidney recipient did not withdraw from donating after their loved one received a kidney, all donors underwent surgery simultaneously.
"The kidney swap program not only makes more kidneys available, but it makes them available to patients earlier than they would have otherwise, helping to save lives," said Dr. David Cohen, medical director of renal and pancreatic transplantation at the hospital. "The kidney recipients in the three-way kidney swap received their kidneys after a wait of up to two years, compared to an average New York wait time of six years. Thousands of people die each year while on the waiting list for an organ transplant."
According to the hospital, paired kidney exchanges, or "swaps," occur when willing and medically suitable living donors are found to be incompatible with their family members or friends in need. A search of the list of those awaiting kidney transplantation may reveal two or more such incompatible pairs, where the potential donor in one family - although incompatible with his or her family member or friend - is compatible with a different person on the waiting list who also happens to have a willing but incompatible donor. The donors then can each donate, but to the other intended recipient. McGuinness was the only "walk-in." He just wanted to do something good for someone.
"It was a free-will gesture," said McGuinness, who works as an accountant for Sleepy's Mattresses in Bethpage. "But you do have to know what you're getting yourself into." He was required to undergo psychological and physical screenings, a renal CAT scan, blood and urine work, and to meet with the surgeon beforehand, viewing video clips of the kidney procedure. "I wasn't afraid," he said. "I wanted to do this. My family was a bit worried, though."
Donors can expect a normal, healthy life span equivalent to what they would have experienced with two kidneys, according to specialists at the hospital. After donating, the patient's single kidney compensates by growing larger.
McGuinness's giving nature goes back a long way. He was bestowed with the "Citizenship of the Year" award in fifth grade, and was the director of the Lynbrook Fire Department's Christmas programs for 10 years. He was also the vice president of the John P. McGuinness Division of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians in Rockville Centre, named after his father, one of its founding members. He was a Lynbrook public committeeman for the 29th District, a wrestling coach for the Lynbrook Titans and a Eucharistic minister for Our Lady of Peace parish. He graduated from Purdue University in two-and-a-half years. He is also a three-gallon Red Cross blood donor.
He met with Taranto after the surgery, before they left the hospital. "She could have declined it, but she wanted to meet me," said McGuinness. "She gave me a special card. It was a good feeling." They have since had one more reunion at Taranto's home in Warwick. "He is a wonderful, terrific person," she said. "I just may be able to ride horses again because of him."
McGuinness is still recovering from the transplant surgery at his home in East Rockaway. "I was out in two days, and had to go back for a follow-up," he said. "They had to redo some of the stitches." He explained that the procedure makes the ill person well, but the otherwise healthy donors have to recuperate in a different way, since they usually have been enjoying good health. "It was all worth it," he said.
He is also on the national bone marrow donor list. "I may be doing that next year," he said.
Since its inception in 2004, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia's Donor Exchange Program has completed five kidney swap procedures. For more information on kidney swaps, call 1-866-NYP-NEWS.
Comments about this story? MMalloy@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000, ext. 202
