Adopted son might donate a kidney

A diabetic, Father Cotugno found out in 1996 that he would need a kidney transplant or face dialysis for the rest of his life. He tried home dialysis, but the process didn't work. He was switched to hemodialysis at Albany Memorial Hospital's dialysis center and told he had two choices: a transplant from a cadaver or from someone whose blood was compatible with his, most likely a close relative.

The priest felt that he couldn't ask his family members to make the sacrifice of donating a kidney and put himself on the list for a cadaver transplant.

Ultimate gift

"He's my dad," Jason explained. "I couldn't live with the thought that I didn't investigate every possibility for his sake when you think of all the possibilities he exhausted for my sake."

Last January, Father Cotugno was told that Jason's blood matched his own. The discovery was followed by a flurry of medical tests, all of which Jason passed until a recent one which could disqualify him. If that hurdle is passed, however, Jason could proceed to the next steps: a catheterization to make sure his kidneys are healthy; a meeting with a nephrologist (a kidney specialist); and blood transfers between father and son three times a day, three weeks apart.

Surgery ahead

"It's really unusual that someone who's not biologically related is able to provide me with a kidney," Father Cotugno said. "If he backed out of it tomorrow, I'd understand. It's not an easy thing."

In fact, Jason's surgery would be more complicated than his father's. A person receiving a kidney has an incision in the front of their abdomen, said Father Cotugno, while someone donating one has an incision in their back, a longer hospital stay and at least two months of recuperation.

Helping his family

Besides, he said, "If you can do something to help a family member, you should automatically want to do it. I'm sure my father had doubts and hesitations when he took on the challenge of myself, and this means a lot to me personally."

To friends who have asked whether Jason's sacrifice is a form of "payback" for his adoption, he said, "I wouldn't say that. I think it's important to return the favor. The [dialysis] machine does a lot more than filter your blood; it strips your soul. I'm helping my father get off a machine that's changing the person he wants to be. This is not the same person that was leading the charge in parishes and setting benchmarks in how schools are going to be run. This is a man in desperate need."

Slowing down

On Sunday afternoons, the priest is often incapacitated because of fluid buildup in his system. Each week, he hopes that he won't be spending that day in the hospital. He suffers from insomnia because of his condition, often getting only an hour or two of sleep each night.

"Thank God the [parish] staff is good, and I can do a lot of things sitting down in a chair," he said. He also expressed his gratitude for the priests who lend a hand at his parish, but added that with the growing shortage of available clergy, "in two or three years, there are not going to be any priests to help out."

Father Cotugno had another setback in March while en route to the University of Wisconsin Medical Center to have his name placed on a transplant list: He had a heart attack. He needed open-heart surgery, which disqualified him for a transplant for months. He was placed back on the list less than a month ago.

Miracle?

"I usually don't look upon that as the way God works. I never try to figure out what God wants to do," he stated. "This could be pure coincidence or an act of faith -- and Jason's not finished yet. He may not qualify. We're not going to know until it's over and done with," ten to 12 weeks from now.

Jason remarked that what his father did for him in taking him in was "a completely unselfish act and a commitment far greater than anything he ever dreamt of. It's really nice that I have the opportunity to give him a shot."(KB)

(07-23-98) [[In-content Ad]]