Donating organs is an extremely generous gesture that can save lives: you know this well John Crupi, 73 year old from Santo Stefano Briga who celebrated 30 years since kidney transplant. A story of rebirth after a long ordeal: he was only 42 when he entered dialysis; suffering from polycystic kidney, Giovanni was taken in charge by the Nephrology and Dialysis Unit of the Policlinico, then directed by Prof. Guido Bellinghieri who, together with his colleague Francis Tower, had the patient put on the list at the Hopital Erasm in Brussels. On July 23, 1994, news arrived that the organ was available: a young man had died in a car accident and his family had authorized the removal. For Giovanni, transported from Catania by military plane to the European capital, a new opportunity for rebirth finally opened up; from that day on, his life went back to what it was before.
«After 30 years my little big kidney works. I wouldn’t be here telling this story if that family hadn’t made the choice to donate their son’s organs, thus transforming the infinite pain into hope of rebirth for me and other people.“, says Giovanni Crupi; he, national representative for Sicily of the Italian Polycystic Kidney Association, wanted to celebrate this milestone with the team of the Policlinico, now directed by Prof. Dominic Santorosending a signal of hope to those experiencing the ordeal of dialysis. The transplant represents the turning point, Santoro reiterated, also explaining that a timely and accurate diagnosis also allows for the so-called “pre-emptive” transplant, that is, before the subject is started on dialysis: the donation can be performed by a living person or by a deceased person.
“It is essential to raise awareness among civil society and especially among the younger generations about the importance of organ and tissue donation, spreading experiences like that of Crupi,” said Santoro, promoter of important scientific research on nephropathies and engaged in the front line of numerous national and international information campaigns.
