Local Kidney Transplant Recipient And Donor Both Doing Fine After Surgery
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Montefiore Hospital. 5 a.m.
Garfield attorney Richard Walters is about to give North Hills resident Jacquie Uhler a gift that could save her life, while possibly endangering his own.
The Zumba-dancing native of Argentina had already undergone two liver transplants when anti-rejection drugs caused kidney failure.
Bulletin board pleas for a donor at Baierl YMCA led to our February story on KDKA-TV, which was widely posted on Facebook, where it was seen by a man she barely knew.
Her sister, Monica Ranii, met Richard when she catered his Argentine dance classes.
"It was after your story first, I started to receive tons of emails and phone calls," Monica says.
Jacquie says she wants to live for her husband, Jason, and their son, Matteo.
"You'll go in, and when you wake up, you'll be going to an intensive care unit," a nurse tells Jacquie.
Tears of gratitude and apprehension flow down her cheeks, as she's wheeled into the operating room. Richard is already there.
"We hope that Jacquie is getting his kidney right now," says husband Jason in the waiting room.
They learn that Richard's surgery goes according to plan.
Now, it's Jacquie's turn.
"You wish you could do something, but you just have to wait for a long time it seems like a lot more than six or seven hours when you're sitting there," Jason says.
At about 5 p.m., the wait is over. Jacquie and Richard are both out of surgery, and doing well.
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