BALDWINSVILLE — Last June, the Messenger reported that Baldwinsville resident Anthony DeMarchi was in need of a kidney transplant due to complications from type 1 diabetes.
“It’s kind of weird asking for a body part,” DeMarchi said in 2020.
DeMarchi asked, and he received.
Robert Doherty, who also lives in Baldwinsville, came across the article about DeMarchi’s plight and decided to donate a kidney to DeMarchi despite never having met the man.
“I was on the downside of thinking I was not going to get a donor,” DeMarchi said.
The transplant took place Feb. 2 at Upstate University Hospital, and the two men only met for the first time earlier this month. While altruistic donors remain anonymous by default, Upstate will arrange a meeting between a living donor and recipient if both parties are interested.
“I was nervous going into it. What do you say to someone that helps you keep living?” DeMarchi said.
DeMarchi’s nervousness quickly dissipated when he and Doherty met.
“As soon as I shook his hand and gave him a hug, it was like I knew him,” DeMarchi said.
“I didn’t know how emotional it would be,” Doherty said.
The butterfly effect
In the 1993 movie “Jurassic Park,” Jeff Goldblum’s character, Dr. Ian Malcolm, explains the butterfly effect: “A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking, and in Central Park, you get rain instead of sunshine.” In other words, the smallest change in a series of events could result in a wildly different outcome.
“A lot of things had to come together for Anthony to get my kidney,” Doherty said.
The Dohertys didn’t typically read the Messenger too closely, but on that day in June 2020, Erica Doherty took the time to peruse the paper.
That day’s mail also brought Robert Doherty’s new blood donor card. He left the card — which says his blood type is O-positive — on the table instead of immediately putting it in his wallet. DeMarchi needed a donor with O-positive or O-negative blood.
“Erica walked up to me with [the] article and said, ‘Hey, there’s this guy in our community who needs a kidney. Are you O-positive?” he recalled. “I never once considered donating a kidney. The article made me curious.”
Doherty called Upstate’s Transplant Clinic and said he wanted to donate a kidney to Anthony DeMarchi. Thus began the battery of blood work, urine tests, and neurology, cardiology and psychiatric evaluations.
“I was scrutinized a little more than most because I’ve had a stroke,” Doherty said. “They make sure you talk to a psychiatrist, especially when you’re an altruistic donor. They want to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons, that you’re not being paid or pressured.”
Doherty’s cardiologist and neurologist gave the green light, and the surgeries took place Feb. 2.
DeMarchi, who had been on dialysis for over two years, said his recovery has been long and difficult. He had to take a series of immunosuppressant medications to keep his body from rejecting the new kidney. He took some medications for 30 or 90 days, while he will be on others for the rest of his life.
“I literally had 14 or 15 pills I had to take in the morning and at night,” he said.
In the months since the transplant, DeMarchi has gotten his life back. He has been able to be more active in Baldwinsville Pop Warner and Scouts BSA Troop 80. His blood pressure has improved.
“I feel a million times better. I feel like I felt a long time ago — 10, 20 years ago,” DeMarchi said. “It’s just nice being able to know I’m going to have a good day.”
Doherty said the first few days after surgery were painful, but he was able to work from home on the third or fourth day. (He owns Blaze Rite, a chimney sweep, repair and inspection company.) Within two weeks, he was back to his normal activities.
“I think that if people knew that you could save someone’s life or greatly enhance their quality of life without changing your quality of life, they … would consider it,” Doherty said.
New friends
A few of DeMarchi’s loved ones volunteered for testing, but they either weren’t a match or didn’t qualify because of certain health issues. DeMarchi wondered if the donor was someone he knew, or one of the hundreds who shared his plea on Facebook, or a total stranger.
“It was weird not knowing who is it,” DeMarchi said of the months before he learned Doherty’s identity.
If both parties consent, Upstate will arrange a meeting at least three months after the surgery to make sure the donor and recipient are healing well.
Anthony and Caitlin DeMarchi met with Robert and Erica Doherty in a private conference room at Upstate.
“The four of us could just talk in private, which was nice,” Anthony DeMarchi said.
With Doherty, DeMarchi has gained not just a new kidney, but a new friend.
“We’re certainly going to carve out a friendship from here on out,” Doherty said.
Doherty said he was glad his family was supportive of his decision to donate, and he was happy to help out a neighbor he didn’t even know.
“B’ville is like a little village. It’s this great little community,” he said. “It’s probably going to go down as one of my most gratifying experiences.”
“He’s definitely an angel for doing that — my angel,” DeMarchi said.
More about organ donation
Upstate University Hospital’s Transplant Clinic performs adult pancreas transplants as well as adult and pediatric kidney transplants. Upstate is a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing and partners with Finger Lakes Organ Recover Network. To learn more, visit donorrecovery.org.
If you know someone who needs a kidney transplant and you are not a match but are still eligible to donate a kidney, you can be matched with someone else in need. Visit kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors/incompatiblebloodtype to learn about nondirected donation, donor exchange programs and Never Ending Altruistic Donor (NEAD) chains.
To become an organ, eye or tissue donor through the National Donate Life Registry, visit registerme.org.
