Kidney

Published by The National Herald, December 26, 2004

Father Gave Kidney to his Daughter

WATERBURY, Conn. – After a year of agonizing pain, this Christmas will finally bring a smile to 26-year-old Maria Karolidis’ face. The young Greek American woman, who has been suffering from diabetes since she was nine years old, recently underwent a successful kidney transplant.

After years of being injected with daily doses of insulin, Maria lost use of both her kidneys. This past October, she had surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital here, the town where she also lives with her family. The operation was successful, but according to her doctors, she is not out of the woods yet.

She also needs a pancreas transplant within nine months so that she can keep her newly transplanted kidney.

"We have been through difficult times," her father told The National Herald, clearly moved by the experience. "My daughter has dealt with everything like a true hero. With God’s help, she’s better now. If we find a new donor for her pancreas, happiness will finally return to our home," he added.

Together with his wife, Efthalia, Mr. Karolidis spent many evenings at his daughter’s side during her recovery.

After Maria’s kidneys failed, he explained, she started going to the hospital three times a week for routine dialysis treatment. Her brother, George was soon found to have a compatible kidney. But Mr. Karolidis did not let 21-year-old George make the sacrifice.

After it was determined that he was compatible himself, Mr. Karolidis said he decided "without hesitation" to help his daughter.

"I couldn’t let my son lose his kidney. He is too young," said Mr. Karolidis who, just four days after the operation, was back on his feet.

"I chose to give my own. I love my daughter, and I want to see her happy," he said, adding that he has been doing very well since the operation, and that his physicians told him they themselves drew courage from his sense of purpose and strength of will.It took a great deal of inner fortitude.

Maria was taken to the hospital for a final checkup on Wednesday, October 27. At 5.45 the next morning, Mr. Karolidis was also cleared, and within an hour, they were both on the operating table. The operation lasted approximately five and a half hours, four of which the doctors spent on transplanting the kidney.

"As soon as I woke up, I asked the doctors where my daughter was and how she was doing," Mr. Karolidis recalled. "I will never forget the joy I felt upon hearing she was doing well. I asked them to push my table over to hers and saw her beautiful face. She looked so calm," he added.

When the anesthesia wore off, woke up, Maria immediately thanked her father. "Those were my first words: ‘thank you dad,’ " she said. "Now, I feel like my whole life has changed, like I’ve started a new life. I am a different person," she added.

Maria must continue her daily injections until she finds a compatible pancreas donor. Considering all she has gone and continues to go through, Maria’s attitude is remarkably upbeat:

"I believe that God will cure me completely," she said. "I sleep with an icon of the Panagia by my side." Maria is a teacher, but she has not been able to work without regular hospital treatment. "I would work for a few months and then had to stop," she recalled.

Mr. Karolidis said there is nothing nobler than to sacrifice oneself to help someone else.

"I would encourage everyone who is in a position to help his fellow man to do so without hesitation. God is near us and loves us," he said, adding that his wife has quit her job in order to be by their daughter’s side.

Mr. Karolidis – who hails from the village of Agio Antonis near Kastoria, the former fur capital of Greece – has worked in Manhattan’s fur district in the past, and recently as a busdriver. In addition to Maria and George, Mr. & Mrs. Karolidis have two more children, Evangelos, Maria’s 21-year-old twin brother, and Stavroula, 24.

"Maria has never complained," Mrs. Katherine Zindrou, a close family friend told the Herald. "I wish her all the best and hope that she finds a pancreas donor so that her family never has to go through a single sad day ever again. Her father has been a true hero through this whole ordeal."

The parish community of Holy Trinity Church in Waterbury, together with AHEPA’s various local chapters, has organized a fundraising event in support of the Karolidis family this coming Sunday, December 26 from 2 PM to 6 PM at the church community center on 937 Chase Parkway. Suggested participation is $30.

For more information, call Paul at 203-753-5710 or Penny at 203-217-2213. Checks can be sent to the John Karolidis Trust Fund, Thomaston Savings Bank, 565 Main Street, Watertown, CT 96795.



Volume 6 Number 52 - Tuesday, December 28th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY