Peters Township students spread word about need for kidney donor
A program to air on Peters Township Community Television features Dr. Lorenzo Machado, abdominal transplant surgeon at Allegheny General Hospital, interviewed by Peters Township High School senior James Curry.
Still from the video featuring Tobias and Bailey Zippay
Jason Zippay expresses appreciation for the many people who have helped his family.
Dr. Lorenzo Machado prepares for taping.
James Curry interviews Dr. Lorenzo Machado.
The message is simple: “Our mommy needs a kidney!”
The delivery is simple, too. Bailey Zippay, 8, and brother Tobias, who’s almost 5, sit on a piano bench displaying signs putting out a call for a living donor on behalf of their mother, Diana.
Social media has picked up on the video of the Monongahela children’s plea to the point where it has been featured nationally, including posts on the Facebook pages of such shows as “Good Morning America” and “ABC World News Tonight.”
The situation is receiving more exposure through a program to be featured on Peters Township Community Television.
Filming by students took place May 4 in the cable station’s studio at Peters Township High School, where Diana Zippay’s husband, Jason, teaches physics and chemistry. Joining the program’s host, high school senior James Curry, was Dr. Lorenzo Machado, part of the Allegheny General Hospital transplant team to perform surgery on Diana once a donor is found.
While most donations come from deceased people, the wait in such cases is three to five years. For living donors, the time frame is much different.
“If they are eligible, then the transplant can occur as more of an elective-type surgery,” Machado explained. “And that can be soon as a few months to a little bit longer.”
For Diana Zippay, her need for a new kidney is caused by a genetic condition called Alport syndrome that affects a sufferer’s eyes and ears along with the kidneys.
“The abnormalities in the eye really don’t have any significant impact, but the abnormalities in the ear have caused her to lose most of her hearing,” her husband said. “And it causes progressive loss of kidney function.
“There’s no way to cure it, other than a kidney transplant,” he continued. “It’s just how long can you get your kidneys to kind of maintain reasonable function until they progress to the point where an organ transplant is necessary. And we reached that point in November of 2015.”
For Bailey and Tobias Zippay, life with a sick mother has become the norm.
“My daughter is a little older, so I think she’s a little more aware of things, and she’s had a lot of anxiety over it,” Jason Zippay said. “We try to teach our kids to do productive things, things that help the situation rather than to get involved and worry, which is just not going to lead to any productive end.
Having seen a video of another child doing something similar on behalf of her father, Bailey decided to give it a try, with Tobias readily agreeing to participate.
“My wife put it out there on Facebook, and we kind of just figured, well, we’ll see where it goes,” Jason recalled. “And we certainly have been humbled by the amount of attention it’s gotten, and the response and outpouring of support we’ve gotten as a result of the video.”
Still, the search of a donor continues.
“Before any of this happened,” Jason said about the recent publicity, “we had an initial wave of family members and friends who got tested, from Mon Valley Hospital, where my wife worked, and from my family, since her family is not eligible because of the genetic condition. And nothing panned out.”
During his on-air interview, Machado discussed the safety of kidney donation.
“The risks of a patient developing kidney failure from donation are extremely, extremely low,” he said. “When you compare, they’re less than the general U.S. population.”
As such, the long-term effects of donation are minimal, if any.
“Anyone who has had surgery knows there’s pain associated with the surgery,” Machado said. “But once you go past that recovery, patients live normal lives.”
For information about the Allegheny Health Network Living Donor Kidney Program, visit www.ahn.org/specialties/transplant-institute/living-donor-kidney-program or call 412-359-4441.