As kidney donor, Nino Giarratano gives his father Mickey a second lease on life.

[Clark]

http://www.chieftain.com/sports/local/unselfish-proposal/article_99c93832-b03b-11e0-b235-001cc4c002e0.html

Unselfish proposal
As kidney donor, Nino Giarratano gives his father Mickey a second lease on life.
By JEFF LETOFSKY letofsky@chieftain.com

The tears welled up in his eyes as he related the emotions of the past 10 months and this past week.
  Mickey Giarratano sat in a lounge Thursday at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver, reflecting on what he had just endured.
  Three days had passed since Mickey received a kidney transplant from his youngest son Nino, the head baseball coach at the University of San Francisco. At 80 years old, he proudly claimed he was the oldest transplant patient the unit at the hospital had ever worked on.
  The Giarratanos are one of Pueblo's most renowned athletic families. Mickey was a standout athlete and official. He and his wife Josephine had three sons — Mike, Joe and Nino — and a daughter, Marianne. All were athletes and sports has been and continues to be a way of life for the family.
  Mickey and Nino are members of the Greater Pueblo Sports Association Hall of Fame.
 In September, Mickey entered a hospital in Pueblo for a routine gallbladder surgery. After the surgery, his kidneys failed, turning his trip to the hospital into a 45-night nightmare. A short-term stay turned into a much longer battle. Three days a week, Mickey began reporting for dialysis.
  Mickey admitted he didn't like the dialysis, adding, "I didn't even like it the first day, much less a whole year.
  "The idea of taking four hours a day Monday, Wednesday and Friday out of your life is upsetting to me. It was either do that for the rest of your life or try and get a kidney."
  The treatments took their toll on Mickey, an active senior who spent his life playing golf, watching baseball and keeping in touch with friends and family. His health was deteriorating.
  Waiting for a donor was an unlikely scenario.
  "You have to have a living donor if you go on the regular donor list," Joe said. "Dad wasn't a candidate for a kidney because there are too many people in front of him. The only way he actually could have been considered is through a living donor."
The proposal
 Nino, 49, a successful collegiate coach whose resume includes stints with USA Baseball and two appearances in the NCAA Division I regionals, had a job to do coaching baseball at USF through the fall season. But he worried about his father.
  "I was in the middle of the fall season and everybody else had to take care of dad," Nino said. "I really felt I wasn't doing my part."
  Mickey wasn't responding to dialysis, so Nino came up with a proposal.
  "It came down to dad needing a kidney transplant," Nino said. "If they were going to let an 80-year-old man have it, I was going to try and give it to him."
  Nino didn't tell his wife Brenda and two children (Bianca and Niko) about a proposal. Instead, when they visited his parents during the Christmas holidays, he approached them with a proposition. He wanted to give his kidney to his dad.
  "I never gave it a second thought," Nino said. "When I said I was going to do it, there was no turning back. I had to find out if I was a match."
  Nino's parents questioned the unselfish act but Nino was insistent. He convinced them that he was the youngest of the four children and had the best opportunity to recover from surgery.
  "I wasn't going to ask my kids," Mickey said. "Nino told me he wanted to give me a kidney; we talked a while and I talked with everyone else. That's what happened."
It's a match
 Testing was an arduous process.
  "We prayed a lot," Mary Ann said. "We were hoping Nino would be a match because dad was older."
  Nino found time to go to the hospital for testing during the spring.
  San Francisco had a successful season that pushed into the postseason and the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. Mickey received special permission to alter his treatment schedule to make a last-minute trip to Southern California to watch his son's team. When the Dons were eliminated, Nino and Mickey went through final tests to make sure they were a match and Mickey was healthy enough to have the surgery.
  "Throughout the season, I spent time getting blood tests, matching tests," Nino said. "I came to Denver when the season ended to do the cross match with the blood and that's when I found out it was a go."
  Kidney disease affects both kidneys. One good kidney does the work of two.
  As long as the kidney is a match, both the giver and the recipient can lead healthy, normal lives.
  There are six components doctors look at before determining a match. The Giarratanos lined up on four of the six components. Only three are needed for a match to work.
  Five days after finding out the Giarratanos were a match, the surgery was scheduled. On Monday, both went in for surgery.
  Nino went in first and Mickey followed two hours later.
  "I came here July 8 and we pushed the surgeries forward," said Nino, who was told he'll need six weeks to recover. "I wanted to get it done because I have to be ready to go for our fall season that starts Aug. 25.
  "I didn't really want to take that much time to think about it. I just wanted to do it and get back to being healthy."
Successful reunion
 Both surgeries were a success. In fact, Nino was released Wednesday, and will wait a week before returning to San Francisco. Mickey was up and about the next day, another amazing feat, according to the doctors. He must stay in the hospital for a week and remain around Denver for daily checkups over the next month.
  After the surgeries, Nino insisted his wife wheel him into Mickey's room where the two shared a moment — holding hands. Little was said.
  "The biggest thing to me is I want grandpa to see my daughter graduate (from college) and get married and want him to see my son play (baseball) and see all the other grandkids," Nino said.
  "You can see it in his eyes. It's almost a new lease on life. That's the gift. That's what's fun to see."
  Mickey recalled a conversation he had with his surgeon prior to the operation.
  "He asked me, ‘Why should I operate on you? Give me a couple of reasons,’ ’’ Mickey said. "I said, ‘Well, my wife has only been with me 61 years, so I want to keep her a while. I have four great kids, nine great grandchildren, one great grandkid and another on the way.’ So, I said, ‘Is that enough reasons?’
  "He said, ‘Yes.’ ’’