Sidebar: Priest continues wait for kidney

Unfortunately, only two weeks after that story ran, Jason Cotugno was ruled out as a donor. A medical test revealed the possibility of kidney problems in his own future, so he could not be considered as a candidate.

"I cried for the first day," Father Cotugno remembered, "but you can't sit back and live with what might have been. You can function, and take every moment and live it to the fullest."

Jason does not like to speak of the change in plans, but his father said he was saddened as well.

"Jason was upset because he couldn't give a kidney. But on one level, he was aware of what he had to go through and glad he didn't have to," the priest said. "He has mixed emotions -- who wants to go through major surgery? Who wants to lose an organ? At the same time, who wants to watch their father suffer?"

Father Cotugno is back on a local waiting list for a cadaver transplant and also hopes to get on a number of lists in other areas of the country, including that of the University of Wisconsin's medical center.

In the meantime, his condition is stable, but he is on dialysis three days a week. He complained that the "constant medical monitoring" leads many dialysis patients to become hypochondriacs, because a minor physical symptom may signal a major problem.

The priest recently came to the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Albany to work at the Office of Initial and Ongoing Formation, a change from his former position as administrator of St. John the Evangelist parish in Rensselaer. He noted that his taking on a new job had no connection to his medical condition.

"There's the usual sense of loss," he said of leaving St. John's, "but I'm getting my feet into the position." (KB)

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