Veteran asks for help finding kidney donor

November 8, 2024 2

This Veterans Day, someone in the Cape Region can offer extended freedom to a Vietnam-era veteran by making a lifesaving donation of a kidney to Ron Varano who just recently entered end-stage kidney failure.

“I have two granddaughters – Ella Grace and Sierra Ray – and they’re the apple of my eye,” Varano said. “I would love to make sure that I’m around to dance at their weddings.”

Varano has been fighting an uphill battle against chronic kidney disease for 10 years, and following a triple-bypass heart surgery eight years ago, his kidneys began to fail, downgrading him from Stage 3 CKD to Stage 4 CKD.

“Eventually, as he healed, he got back to Stage 3, but then the past couple years it just started going down,” said Ron’s wife, Marianne.

Ron served in the U.S. Air Force at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana from January 1966 until May 1969, protecting the LGM-30 Minuteman I land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. When he was 19, he was examined before his scheduled departure to Vietnam and failed the physical with cervical arthritis, leading to a week-long hospital stay.

After the military, Ron, a friendly people person, began working for Weis Markets and eventually started opening parking lot restaurants at several of the stores. This led to an opportunity with the sanitation company Ecolab. He sold sanitation systems to the hospitality industry, healthcare providers, schools and prisons – something necessary in all four sectors. Unfortunately for Ron, it would be his body’s sanitation system that began failing him later in life.

A decade ago, Ron noticed swelling in his legs and an overall feeling of fatigue in the morning.

“I always thought I’d outlive it, but here I am at 77 and I couldn’t outlive it,” Ron said. “This year, it just kept getting worse and worse. I’m 77, but I don’t feel 77, and I need a kidney. ”

Told recently by his local doctor he would not be eligible for a donation due to his age, Ron grappled with fear and anxiety over the proposition of dialysis for the rest of his life when told his numbers were dropping. Marianne tossed a hail mary seeking a second opinion and reached out to the Wilmington VA Medical Center. Luckily for the Varanos, a group of people they refer to as angels was there to catch it.

Their first interaction was with a doctor on a Zoom call who told them age is but a number and that the focus is on Ron’s health. For the most part, Ron is healthy outside of his CKD.

“They just handled everything differently, and we were awestruck by the information they gave us,” Marianne said. “They encouraged us to try for a transplant.”

They pulled Ron’s military service record and noticed his arthritis from when he was 19, qualifying him for 70% disability.

“We didn’t have big pension funds or anything, and that was a godsend when he started getting benefits,” Marianne said, adding they could have collected from 1969.

Following a series of tests, the Varanos found two hospitals likely to perform the surgery, the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center and Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia.

In the meantime, Ron is on dialysis and must leave his house at 5:15 a.m. three days a week to complete his treatment by 9:30 a.m. and carry out the day the way he would like. Marianne said Ron’s early nerves were calmed by the medical team’s kindness and compassion.

“I was like a different person; that’s how they clean your blood,” Ron said, offering that his lungs and legs both had unwanted fluid in them.

The invasive procedure provides temporary relief, but the Varanos are hoping to link up with a living donor so the two can rest easier in their golden years. Family and friends have offered, but some have been disqualified already for various reasons.

For donors, medical costs will be covered by Ron’s insurance, screenings will ensure the donor can handle the procedure, an independent patient advocate will be assigned to the donor, and protections extend beyond the operation if it relates to the donation.

“People live long, healthy lives with one kidney,” Marianne said. “There is no medical evidence that donating a kidney will shorten a donor’s life.”

Anyone interested in donating their kidney can contact Marianne by calling 302-396-4422 or emailing marianne42649@gmail.com for assistance.

The Varanos have also partnered with DOVE, a nonprofit helping veterans find donors. Ron’s profile is on their website, dovetransplant.org, and donors can submit their interest there too.

“Please, help a veteran,” Ron said after describing how painful multiple needle pricks have become.

Ron and Marianne’s experience with the Wilmington VA has been so positively transformative that they would like any veterans in need of care but who have their doubts to reconsider and go to va.gov/wilmington-health-care.