Transplant donor sought for Honesdale boy
Jake Algerio loves lots of things about the video game “Call of Duty.” One is that the characters have access to healing powers.
Video games serve a purpose for the Honesdale 10-year-old. He’s often too tired for more active play and there is lots of time to fill during doctors’ appointments as he waits for a kidney transplant.
“You have to survive to the last round,” Jake said Thursday, describing the intricacies of the game. He likes to customize game elements. He plays outside sometimes, including a game of Four Square during recess at Lakeside School in the Wayne Highlands School District earlier in the day.
Jake has Stage 5 kidney disease. His parents and their friends are on a campaign to recruit a living kidney donor.
Jake’s health problems started in utero. He’s been hooked up to dialysis equipment at night for most of his life. A kidney transplanted shortly before his sixth birthday soon failed. He’s currently healthy enough to be back on the transplant waiting list.
A new transplant could come from either a living or deceased donor, whichever is available. But his parents are hoping for a live donation. “It’s just more promising,” said his mother, Brianne Algerio.
“If you have that strength, that kindness, then please,” consider donation, Algerio said. Living donation does not have a long term impact on health and is at no cost to the donor.
Algerio and her husband, Don Sweeley Jr., wrote a flier asking for potential donors. It is being shared rapidly on social media and being publicized with help from The Wright Center for Community Health Hawley Practice in Wayne County, where Algerio works as a certified medical assistant.
Potential donors need to be: either A+ or O+ blood type, physically fit, in good overall health, with no significant medical issues, and have not undergone major abdominal surgery. To help Jake, visit the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) website at https://tinyurl.com/fkdea2yf or call 1-877-ORGAN50 (674-2650).
Algerio said she and her husband are reliving the fearful excitement of their first wait for a transplant. “You never thought you would have to deal with this,” she said. “And then you are dealing with it.” This time, Jake is more aware of what’s going on, she said.
Kidneys are the most needed transplant organ. As of January, there were 366 people awaiting kidney transplants in the 14 counties of Northeastern Pennsylvania, according to the Gift of Life Donor Program.
