Jason Bristol’s parents had no idea when they walked into Roma Imports in Latham more than a year ago that a man behind the deli counter would save their son’s life.
Bristol, 29, a former dialysis patient and customer of the Latham store, was in need of a kidney transplant when employee Ryan Scorsone, 26, offered to donate his own.
On Sunday, June 6, more than 1,000 people gathered at the University at Albany for the National Kidney Foundation of Northeast New York’s Albany Kidney Walk at the University at Albany. Among those in attendance were Bristol, of Niskayna, and Scorsone, of Latham.
It’s just amazing that someone would do that, said Bristol, who said his mouth simply dropped when he heard the news. `I’m still shocked about it. I was shocked from Day One, and I’m still a little shocked now. It was sort of a whirlwind.`
Bristol and his parents are frequent customers of Roma Imports and the employees there would always ask how Bristol was doing. One day his parents were talking about Bristol’s predicament ` he had just been placed back on the kidney transplant list ` when Scorsone, who was working the deli counter, overheard their conversation. He immediately wanted to do something to help. He decided that he wanted to donate one of his kidneys.
`He and his parents were skeptical at first,` said Scorsone of the Bristol family’s initial reaction.
`From what I hear from people, it’s not that common of a thing, so I told Jason when I saw him a couple days later, ‘Just give me whatever paperwork I need to get, come back up here to Romas, and I’ll get the ball rolling,’` said Scorsone.
It took several months before everything was evaluated and cleared, but it was eventually announced that Scorsone was eligible to donate his kidney to Bristol.
Besides all of the various tests and evaluations Scorsone had to go through, he also started walking to work everyday a month prior to the surgery and quit smoking for 10 weeks in an effort to build up his own endurance.
`He was really adamant. He would always call if he got a test done that day. He would call up and look for the results. He wanted to get it done,` said Bristol.
On Monday, Feb. 23, of this year, Scorsone successfully donated one of his kidneys to Bristol.
The recovery process for both Scorsone and Bristol was long. Scorsone was able to return to work two weeks earlier than he expected, but it was still a month after his surgery. Bristol is still recovering.
`After the transplant it took a good two months before I felt really well again,` said Bristol.
Within the month, he hopes to return to the New York State Assembly, where he worked before he became ill.
Bristol had his first kidney transplant in November of 1992. His mother donated one of her kidneys to him. After 15 years, it started to fail him, causing high fevers, illnesses and trips in and out of the hospital, and it was eventually removed.
When Bristol was on kidney dialysis after the removal of his first transplant, he was in and out of the hospital with various ailments including shingles, fluid on his heart and lungs, fevers, and a form of pneumonia that might have left him on a ventilator for the rest of his life. He tried to continue going to work when he was well enough, but eventually had to stop.
He said he is grateful to Scorsone for giving him his life back.
`It’s just amazing that someone would do that and a lot of people don’t know that you can be perfectly fine living with one kidney. Some people have one kidney and they don’t even now it,` said Bristol. `Just the generosity that some people would even contemplate doing that [is beyond me].`
Not only did Bristol get a kidney from Scorsone, but he also got a friend.
`I talk to him on the phone quite a bit and text him quite a bit and see him in Romas once a week when I go in there,` said Bristol.
Scorsone said that he feels great and that he never faced any side effects.
`You’d never know it was gone, and it helps change someone else’s life in such a major way,` said Scorsone.
At Sunday’s kidney walk, more than $150,000 was raised to help fund kidney research, patient and family services and public health education for more than 1.2 million individuals suffering from kidney disease in Northeast New York, including dialysis patients, kidney transplant recipients and donors, and their families.
Chronic kidney disease affects one out of every nine adults, with 26 million Americans suffering and 20 million more at risk. There are 500,000 dialysis patients nationwide, and more than 75,000 patients waiting for a kidney transplant.
For more information about services and programs offered by the National Kidney Foundation of Northeast New York, visit www.nkfneny.org or call 533-7880.
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