Page 38 - WilmU - Spring 2017

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Dymowski was born with only one semi-functional kidney, and by March of 2016 it was operating at just 9 percent efficiency. If he failed to get a new organ, he faced a lifetime of dialysis — three days a week, eight hours a day hooked up to a machine that would cleanse his body of impurities that a normally functioning kidney would eliminate.
He had already exhausted the most obvious potential donors — immediate family and close friends. They either didn’t have a matching blood type or weren’t healthy enough to qualify as donors. Failure to find a match is not unusual. According to the National Kidney Foundation’s annual figures, more than 100,000 people need transplants, and fewer than 17,000 receive them. A more sobering statistic from the NKF: every day, 13 people die waiting for a kidney.
So Dymowski was preparing for the challenge of dialysis. He had already undergone surgery to create a fistula, or vascular access, on his arm, to receive the catheter that would transport toxins, waste and extra fluids from his body.
On March 16, his situation was described on the Maryland Libertarian Party’s blog. David Sten, an adjunct faculty member in Wilmington University’s College of Technology, read the blog. Sten, a resident of North East, Md., had served as chairman of the state party for a couple of years and he knew Dymowski, although they weren’t close friends.
The blog noted that a donor with type A or O blood was needed. The 46-year-old Sten is type A. He went to bed, giving serious thought to donating one of his kidneys to Dymowski.
He already knew a bit about kidney transplants, thanks to Dr. James Wilson, the University’s vice president for Academic Affairs. Sten and Wilson had ridden together during the 2015 Bike to the Bay, an annual two-day bike ride through lower Delaware that raises funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
During the ride, Sten learned that Wilson was a kidney transplant recipient, and he peppered Wilson with questions about the operation.
“Dr. Wilson made the procedure a lot less scary,” he says. “If it hadn’t been for him, I would’ve never considered the operation.”
“What a wonderful surprise to learn about David’s gift,” says Wilson. “It brought tears to my eyes. I had to think for a moment in order to recall this conversation which speaks to the potential power of the numerous, somewhat random conversations we have throughout life’s journey. David’s altruistic gift will live on for many years and make a difference not only in Leo’s life, but in the life of his entire family. Who knows how David’s and Leo’s story may inspire many others in the future.”
The morning after reading the blog, and after discussing his decision with his wife, Renee, Sten called Dymowski’s wife, got the phone number of the hospital, and arranged to start blood tests. Over the next few months, in preparation for the operation, he underwent multiple tests and examinations and shed 20 pounds from his 6-foot frame, going from 195 to 175.
On Aug. 4, donor and recipient were wheeled into an operating room at the University of Maryland Medical
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