HEALTH & FITNESS

Forever Connected

Kidney donor knew he was "the one" to overcome recipient's rare condition.

Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor

had concerns about being physically and
emotionally strong enough to handle the
surgery.
"Art told me, `With my kidney, I'll give
you the strength. I'm strong enough for
both of us;" Josie recalled.
Art, who owns Tuffy Auto Service
Centers in Southfield, Walled Lake and
Waterford, earned a black belt in karate
and works out regularly. "In my mind, I'm
a tough Yid, kind of fearless!'

A

lthough each is married, Josie
Carney and Art Rott are beshert
(meant for each other) — they
just didn't know it until he gave her one of
his kidneys and saved her life.
"I feel there's this unconditional connec-
tion, that I'll always be there for him and
him for me she said. "There's no doubt
about it. Now we are forever connected!'
The connection started with their sons,
Maxx Carney, 18, and Josh Rott, 19, who
became good friends through Temple
Israel in West Bloomfield. Their families
became friendly, too, but they never real-
ized how close they would become.
Just one week after the families were
together at a 2005 Halloween party at
the Carney's home in Waterford, Josie
collapsed without warning into a coma
from sudden renal failure. She spent more
than a month in intensive care at William
Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak and started
dialysis treatment while still comatose.
In March 2006, she was approved by
doctors at the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor for a living donor transplant.
But finding a suitable match was compli-
cated because Josie's 0-positive blood had
a rare 96-percent rejection rate.
"As family and friends came forward to
test, I knew it would take a miracle to find
a match:' Josie said.
Art, 49, of West Bloomfield tested at U-
M, but was eliminated because of Josie's
high rejection rate. No match was found.
Meanwhile, Josie's health was slipping
away and she was becoming weaker each
day. The Carneys had a hospice care work-
er visit their home; the clergy at Temple
Israel made a special "Mi Shebeirach"
[prayer for healing] tape for them. And
Maxx spent more and more time with the
Rotts, especially during Josie's trips for
testing at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minn., where a high-risk transplant team
would go ahead with transplantation if a
match could be found.
Josie's rejection rate had improved
somewhat during the past several months,
and. Mayo was willing to re-test and recon-
sider prospective donors who had been
eliminated a year earlier.
At dinner one night with the Carneys,

Recipient Josie Carney and donor Art Rott are working on a book about their
experiences with kidney transplantation.

after hearing of Josie's dire circumstances,
Art blurted out, "I will take the test. I will
be one. I will give her my kidney"
"My wife kicked me under the table and
said I was embarrassing;' Art said. "I said,
will not be quiet. You will see I will be
the one — Josie will get my kidney.' I just
knew.
"That night, my right kidney was killing
me," Art said. "I woke up Sunday morning
and told my wife they were taking that

one. Julie said, `You don't even know if
you're a match, let alone what kidney! She
even went on the Internet and found that
they usually take the left because it's closer
to the heart and less vascular."
Finally, after both Art and Josie sent
blood and tissue tests three times, they
went together to Mayo the week of March
13, 2007, and were approved together.
"I told Josie, 'Pack your bags, we're
going to Mayo, babe Art said. But Josie

Miraculous Match
After a private prayer service at Temple
Israel, the families, including Ryan Rott,
16, and Josie's husband, Mark, and daugh-
ter Robin Murphy, 30, headed to the Mayo
Clinic for the surgeries. Josie's May 2
transplant took 51/2 hours and Art's kidney
— the right one — worked immediately.
She is checked twice a week and there's
zero rejection rate.
"What a miracle," said Josie, 51, who
came home from Mayo in early June. "Art
knew from the start he was the one in
900 who could match. He is a giving, lov-
ing and kind-hearted person. To give a
living organ is such a selfless gift to save
a life."
Art's father, David Rott, 79, a handball
champion in the Jewish Sports Hall of
Fame, lost a kidney to cancer 33 years ago.
"He inspired me Art said. "I asked him
about it and he said, `Son, you are abso-
lutely doing the right thing. Nothing to
talk about.' I knew I would be fine. I'm in
better shape than before surgery. Everyone
needs to donate a kidney — you feel good
in your heart and physically."
Now the two are working diligently once
a week on a book about their experience
so they can help others.
"A lot of people don't get it and ask why
donate," Art said. "There's no greater honor
or privilege in the world than being able
to save another human being's life. And it's
not as big a deal as you think. More than
20,000 Americans die annually waiting for
an organ.
"I asked a Lubavitch rabbi if it's OK to
donate a body part and he told me it was
the greatest mitzvah of all because if you
save one person you save the world. I'm
saving the world one person at a time." Ll

More on living organ donation page 24

tune 28 • 2007

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