A MOTHER’S REQUEST
BRUNSWICK, N.Y. » Joan Smith’s dying wish was for somebody to help her son, Stephen.
Beverly Kantrowitz of Brunswick is making that wish come true.
Smith’s son -- Stephen Austin -- lives in Waterford with his wife, Jennifer, and their 10-year- old son, Logan. Austin is one of roughly 30 million Americans who suffer from chronic kidney disease, a condition which, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, impacts one in seven adults.
Austin’s condition started when a childhood operation scarred his urethra and stunted the growth of his kidneys. It was not diagnosed until 2001 when he went to the hospital for what he thought was back pain and ended up losing both of his kidneys.
“I was a senior in high school when he got the diagnosis and I remember that he told me about it by handing me a bunch of pamphlets about kidney disease,” Jennifer Austin said. The diagnosis didn’t matter. Stephen and Jennifer dated for six years before being married. They celebrated their 12th anniversary last month.
In 2003, medical crisis seemed to be over. Stephen’s father was a match and the transplant was a success. In February of 2014 Stephen came down with pneumonia and after a lengthy hospital stay, lost his father’s kidney.
Today Stephen and Jennifer both work full-time and Stephen does in-home dialysis so he can spend more time with his family. He does not meet the health qualifications for the national donor registry and his rare blood type narrows the pool of available donors to only O-positive kidneys.
Jennifer admits that her husband’s rigorous schedule is grueling. Most people in his condition end up on disability, but Stephen said that the responsibility of providing for Logan keeps him going when the days get long.
“We were told time after time we couldn’t have children,” Jennifer said. “Logan was born a month and two days early. He’s the reason we do this.”
According to Kantrowitz, Joan Smith understood the burden that medical expenses and lost work time placed on her family and wanted desperately to know that they would not be alone.
“The last time I saw Joan at The Heritage House she told me ‘Please do something. Please help Stephen.” After Smith’s death, Kantrowitz enlisted the help of the Pittstown United Methodist Church and the Brunswick Elk’s Lodge to host a fundraiser for Austin.
The event is scheduled for June 10 at 3 p.m. at the Brunswick Elk’s Club. The goal of the event is to raise money for the family and educate people on kidney disease and the donor process. Cost will be $15 for an afternoon of music featuring several well-known area bands. Supporters have also created a Go Fund Me page under A Kidney For My Daddy.
Neither Austin nor his wife knew of his mother’s request, but both are overwhelmed by this show of support. As Austin said, it just goes to show that anything can happen. “In my perfect world somebody would walk up to the event and say, ‘Hey, I’ll give you my kidney.’”