By JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer
NORTH BRUNSWICK — On June 7, Christopher Gianotto was ready for his life to change.
Having been diagnosed with diabetes at age 17, the now 42-year-old discovered his kidneys were failing about six years ago due to complications from diabetes.
“It really sucks,” he said. “You spend four hours a day, three days a week in a chair getting your blood cleaned [during dialysis]. There’s a TV, but not much else. And it’s hard to go on vacation.
“It’s been five years of hell.”
Patiently waiting for years, Gianotto’s sister-in-law was finally deemed a match this year through the program at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Kidney Transplant Center after months of medical analysis.
However, the elation Gianotto felt on June 7 was very short-lived.
Though he went through the initial transplant surgery that day, the next morning, the volunteer firefighter from Somerset was rushed back into the operating room. He said that he wasn’t urinating and had no blood flow to the kidney, warranting emergency surgery.
“I don’t remember much because I was knocked out,” he said, not knowing that the kidney was not working properly. Surgeons removed it, saw a blood clot, cleared the clot and sewed him back up. When they realized the kidney was still not functioning, they took the kidney to pathology, put it back in, noticed it still was not viable and then removed it completely.
“It was hell for my wife and my family, waiting eight or nine hours and not knowing anything,” he said.
Gianotto said doctors discovered he had a blood-clotting disorder that no one knew of prior, so his body attacked the kidney as a foreign object and clotted around it.
“It was like getting punched in the face by Mike Tyson. I thought I would wake up and be happy again … and go out and be a normal person,” he said.
Kimberly Gianotto said that her husband developed additional complications by the end of that week. He was on a respirator for four days, had more blood clots and developed pneumonia. He was finally released after a two-week stay in the hospital.
“It was a very rough summer for us,” Kimberly Gianotto said. “We were very excited initially for the transplant because we thought this was the end — no more dialysis, we could go on vacation, life would change. … To me, it felt like the floor fell out.”
Christopher Gianotto is back to work as the supervisor of the sewer division of North Brunswick’s Department of Public Works, where he has been employed for the past 10 years — but he is also back on dialysis. He got married to Kimberly on May 22, but they have had to postpone their honeymoon plans because traveling is difficult while on dialysis. He also wants to take his sons Matthew and Nicholas on vacation.
Although most of his family and friends have gotten screened to be a match, he said issues such as weight, high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney stones can reject a person as a match. He is on the transplant waiting lists at Robert Wood Johnson, in Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania and in Baltimore.
“A living kidney is better because it lasts longer,” he said of seeking a live donor instead of a deceased donor.
Anyone interested in being tested as a match for Christopher Gianotto may call Robert Wood Johnson at 1-877-NU-KIDNEY (1-877-685-4363). Although Gianotto is O+, any donor can get tested since through an exchange program, kidneys can be transferred according to the appropriate blood type, he said.
“We’re hoping we can look to the community he has served for so many years … and maybe they’ll donate back to him,” Kimberly Gianotto said, noting Chris’ awards as Firefighter of the Year in 1995 and 2004 and Officer of the Year in 1999, 2003 and 2008 while he has served as a lieutenant, captain and deputy chief with Somerset Fire and Rescue.
“[Diabetes] and cancer, I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Christopher Gianotto said. “I want to live a normal life … and have four hours a day, three days a week [of time] back in my life.”
Contact Jennifer Amato at [email protected].