OCTOBER 29 • 2020 | 37
A
ndy Langwald was in
need of a kidney donor
when he found an
unexpected match on Facebook.
The 53-year-old West
Bloomfield man, who had devel-
oped kidney failure at the age of
12 and received a kidney from
his mother, Annette Langwald-
Kozin, a perfect match, now had
a blockage in his ureter that was
causing health concerns. He was
told by his doctors, after a round
of unsuccessful procedures to fix
the issue, that it would eventually
cause his kidneys to no longer
work.
His brother Michael and sis-
ter Sheri both tested as perfect
matches to donate a kidney.
Sheri would be the one to make
the donation, the family decided.
The Langwalds were ecstatic at
the idea, then faced a devastating
blow: about a week before the
transplant was scheduled, Andy
Langwald was diagnosed with
colon cancer.
The transplant would have to
wait, doctors advised, until the
cancer was removed, and his
body had healed. But while wait-
ing, his sister developed a health
condition that would rule her
out as a potential donor. Then
his brother was also rejected for
a medical reason. Langwald now
had no prospective donors and
didn’
t want to be put on an organ
transplant waiting list, which can
see people waiting upwards of
five-10 years for the right match.
“I hadn’
t started kidney dialy-
sis yet, and that was my biggest
fear,
” Langwald said. “
As a kid,
I hated every second. It was a
nightmare.
”
He was in bad shape between
his earlier dialysis hospital stays.
The idea of potentially facing
that experience again was terrify-
ing to Langwald and his family,
who had been by his side to help
him through medical stays, often
sleeping in his hospital room so
he wouldn’
t be alone.
“Two live donors who are
perfect matches — the odds of
that are astronomical,
” Langwald
said. He grappled with the issue
of what to do next. Then his
mother Annette had what he
called “the most amazing idea”
and turned to social media.
“I’
m just going to put some-
thing out there,
” she told her son.
Langwald, who didn’
t use
Facebook, was skeptical at first.
His mother wanted to write
a post to see if anyone in her
network would be interested in
being tested as a potential match
or knew of anyone who would
try. She wrote about Langwald’
s
journey and shared it publicly.
DISTANT COUSIN
VOLUNTEERS
First came an offer from
Langwald’
s stepfather’
s son. But
it was an offer from a distant
cousin, Jenni Newman Rockoff,
who lived in Tucson, Ariz., that
changed Langwald’
s life forever.
“The last time I spoke to her
was when we were students
at Hillel,
” Langwald recalls.
Ironically, a year before his
mother posted about the need
for a donor, Rockoff had sent her
a friend request. She responded
immediately and offered to be
tested as a match for Langwald
when she realized she had the
same blood type.
Even though Rockoff had
children, was married and had
a career in front of her, she put
everything on hold to undergo
testing. “She had a whole life,
”
Langwald said, “and this woman
stepped up.
” Rockoff turned out
to be a perfect match and the
donation was scheduled. She
flew to Michigan, quarantined
for two weeks due to COVID
and underwent surgery to
donate a kidney. The Langwalds
took care of her accommoda-
tions and set her up with an
apartment in West Bloomfield
during her stay.
Langwald had his transplant
and is currently on the road to
recovery. He hopes to soon be
able to travel to his favorite des-
tination, Boca Raton, Fla. “She
gave me my life back,
” he said.
“She was virtually a stranger in
the sense that I hadn’
t talked to
her in forever, and she was will-
ing to do this.
”
While Rockoff faced initial
pain and discomfort after the
surgery, she is also doing well
and recovering. Now, Langwald’
s
mother and Rockoff talk almost
every day and have a new friend-
ship born from the gift.
“It was a miracle,
” Annette
Langwald-Kozin said. “She gave
up a month of her life for this.
She canceled her family’
s vaca-
tion. She just made up her mind
that she was going to do this.
”
To the Langwalds, Rockoff is
“an angel” who was set on saving
Andy’
s life. “How can you thank
someone like that?” he says. “I’
m
very blessed.
”
“How can you thank someone
like that?” he asks.
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Kidney Donor
Found on
Facebook
LANGWALD FAMILY
The Langwald
family. Andy is
in the middle.
“IT WAS A MIRACLE.”
— ANDY’S MOM, ANNETTE LANGWALD-KOZIN