Kidney Connection was started by Jeanette Caprino, a Jamestown native who became involved in the kidney community in the local area after her son received two kidney transplants. These days, through Kidney Connection she works to help people in the local area in need of kidney transplants connect to others who may be willing to be living donors and a match.

Back in November the Kidney Connection held a murder mystery fundraiser, and following that fundraiser Caprino said five people connected with her and were recently added to the list on the Kidney Connection website to look for a local living donor. These people include Debbie Reedy, JoAnn Wellman, Tony DeJesus, Ron Miller and Nancy McCanna.

Nancy McCanna is from Maple Springs, and is a sister, wife, mom to two sons and also has two grandsons to whom she is known as “Wama”. McCanna moved to Florida and returned home to Maple Springs where she grew up when she was able to purchase her childhood home after her mother passed away from the same kidney disease McCanna now has. She said returning to Western New York has given her the ability to truly appreciate “home” and that she hopes to be able to be “Wama” for many more years.

Tony DeJesus from Jamestown has had kidney disease for 20 years, being on dialysis for 14 of those years. He is 52 years old, with five grandkids, and notes he has a hard blood type to match being B positive. DeJesus likes cooking, baking, fishing, sport shooting, gaming and anything to do with nature, though he added that people need to understand that with kidney disease people cannot do a lot of their regular activities because of the lack of energy they have.

Zachary Fuller

Ron Miller of Dewittville has both stage four chronic kidney disease and Wegener’s granulomatosis. Even with both conditions he remains working full time at Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood. Miller enjoys hiking, spending time with friends and family, listening to live local bands, and enjoying time with his dog, Elsa, which he said all keep him grounded and remind him of the joy life still has to offer, even amid adversity.

Joann Wellman from Frewsburg is married with two children and a granddaughter. She was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease at a young age, having her first transplant in March 2012. Her native kidneys were removed in August 2017 and she has been on dialysis since July 2020. Wellman loves traveling to see her children and grandchildren, cooking and baking, kayaking, gardening, and working in the woods, though she has had a hard time finding the energy for outdoor activities since starting dialysis. She notes that she has experienced the benefit of a living donor once before, and knows how fortunate she would be to find another.

Debbie Reedy lives in Jamestown and owns Elite Kreations with her husband Robert. She has worked at Bob Evans for eight years, and on home dialysis for around a year, with O Blood Type. Reedy has two daughters, a son, and 16 grandchildren who she hopes to all see grow up. Reedy enjoys baking and spending time with her three dogs — two Frenchies and a pug.

One other Jamestown resident has also reached out to Caprino to get his profile on the Kidney Connection website in recent days. Zachary Fuller was diagnosed with Minimal Change Disease in January, where his kidneys suddenly stopped and can no longer regulate water. A treatment was put in place including daily anti rejection medication and hemo dialysis three times a week. He now has a daily battle with side effects and with a drastic decline is out of work for an unknown period of time, and a kidney transplant is now what he is in need of at this stage, though he is optimistic for a healthier future with his wife who is a nurse, and two teenage boys at his side.

Caprino said the main way that Kidney Connection is working to help get the people on the list connected to a living donor is by promotion and publicity once they add their profile to the website.

Ron DeJesus

“We promote the website through things like fundraisers, and these five people actually got on board after my last fundraiser,” Caprino said. “I want to promote that these are actual people and my website motto is ‘neighbors helping neighbors’. You know, somebody who lives in Randolph may see the story of someone from Randolph and say ‘I know them’ or want to help them. We focus a lot on publicity and making their stories known.”

Getting a living donor is something that Caprino said is very important for someone in need of a kidney transplant, as someone could be on the transplant list for five years waiting. She added that someone can never know when a matching donor may come along and it can be hard to find one, with living donors making this process easier.

“Living donors can call and ask questions and see if they could be a good candidate for donation,” Caprino said. “They can go through the test to find a possible match and help someone not have to be on the waiting list anymore. For cadaver kidneys someone has to be brain dead and an organ donor before they are able to donate. Living donor kidneys are also said to last longer; my son’s kidney donations will be 19 years this year.”

With a living donor Caprino said there is also more control in the process and makes it so whenever the next cadaver kidney is available it can go to the next person and take someone off of the transplant list.

“It takes a special kind of person to be a living donor,” Caprino said. “We are born with two kidneys, where some are only born with one. I like to say God gave us two to be able to share your spare, and it will save a life. A lot of people in Jamestown I know have done it. I think people are interested but they don’t know anyone who is in need.”

Nancy McCanna

For anyone who may be interested, Caprino said she is able to help them get in contact with the right people. She said a lot of people do not know they can be living donors, and while it is still a surgery, it is one that she said has come a long way in the past few years, with the healing time a lot less than it used to be. Additionally, through her website the process is all local, cutting off the need for travel, and people who are living donors go on to live completely normal lives.

“There are people in the area that are on dialysis that don’t know about Kidney Connection,” Caprino said. “People in need to be their own advocate. Don’t be ashamed to ask for help and see if someone might be willing to donate.”

Kidney Connection is a completely free website, with no fees for people to put their names and stories on it. All of the people are local, or in the Western New York area, and Caprino said she is not looking for any monetary donations, but is just looking to help these people.

“I’m just asking for people to open their hearts and look into being a living donor,” Caprino said. “It can save a life.”

For more information on Kidney Connection or to contact any of the people in need of transplants, visit kidneyconnection.org.

Ron Miller

Debbie Reedy

From left are Craig Merchant, Club Associates vice president, Jeanette Caprino, Kidney Connection co-founder and president, and Chris Sorenson, Club Associates president. Submitted file photo