Mary Beth George, a strength and conditioning coach for Pitt volleyball, gymnastics and softball, was running errands when she received a call from her co-worker, Molly Trott, last month. At first, George didn’t believe what she was hearing.
How would Danny like a new kidney for Christmas?
George’s 4-year-old son, Daniel, suffers from Stage 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD). George and her husband, Bobby, had searched for a living donor match since May. And when their hopes were answered with a phone call from a colleague, George’s initial response was one of disbelief.
“I told her, ‘This is real,’” Trott, a Pitt athletic trainer, said with a wide smile. “It was a moment I’ll never forget. She kept asking me, ‘Are you serious?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’”
Trott will donate a kidney to Daniel on Dec. 7. The surgeries will be performed at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, just a few weeks shy of Daniel’s fifth birthday.
“It is remarkable,” George said of Trott’s decision to donate. “We don’t have the words to express our gratitude and our appreciation for what she’s doing for our family.”
The procedures are now just a couple weeks away. But the reality that Daniel needed a kidney transplant was understood years ago.
Doctors discovered an abnormality when George was pregnant with Daniel during her 20-week ultrasound. After further appointments, George found out her son had swollen kidneys due to a buildup of urine. They knew then that his kidneys would develop differently. George was monitored every week until Daniel was born on Dec. 26, 2016.
Hours after being born, Daniel was taken to the newborn intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Two days after being born, Daniel underwent surgery to remove the posterior urethral valves causing the buildup. But enough damage was done to his kidneys that he was diagnosed with CKD.
Daniel avoided dialysis in his infancy. George and her husband have managed his CKD the last few years through diet, medicine and blood work. But in the summer of 2020, they were informed that Daniel’s kidney function was lessening.
Fast forward to March, when the George family started its donor campaign through the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA). Kate McCartney, Pitt volleyball’s athletic trainer and one of George’s closest friends, was asked to run the “Daniel Strong” effort via COTA. McCartney organized fundraising events and shared information on how to be a living donor.
Trott signed up in July, got a call back in August and scheduled two days of testing, six to eight hours per day, for October. She went to UPMC Montefiore for kidney studies, CT scans, X-rays and blood work. And after the “longest few days ever,” Trott heard from the transplant specialists.
“They called me and said, ‘All of your testing was great, and you’re a match. Would you like to proceed with the donation?’” Trott recalled. “There were some moments of awkward silence where I had to process this, and my nurse manager was sitting on the other line waiting for my response. And I just said, ‘Wow.’”
Trott accepted. Then, she called George to let her know.
Days later, at Pitt’s Nov. 5 volleyball match against Syracuse, Trott saw George and Daniel in-person for the first time since finding out she was a match. They hugged, took pictures and cherished a moment Daniel’s family had looked forward to for so long.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the last time Daniel will need a transplant. George said the average donated kidney lasts 12 to 15 years, while some last 20 to 25 and others last only 2 or 3. She’s confident in the doctors at UPMC and their transplant reputation. But she also has the peace of mind knowing the money raised through “Daniel Strong” will stay with him and support him throughout his life.
“Something like this makes you believe in humanity again,” McCartney said. The family’s fundraising campaign, as of Tuesday night, was up to $58,823 of its $75,000 goal. “Everyone’s been incredibly generous. People have been reaching out from the woodwork saying they want to buy Daniel a Christmas gift. There are just so many good people in the world.”
And one of those people, by George’s estimation, is Trott.
Trott said she isn’t nervous for the Dec. 7 procedure. If anything, she’s approaching it with a “good kind of anxious” — eager to see Daniel live with a new kidney.
“When she told us she was a match, she’s family now.” George said of Trott. “... We’ve been waiting for this for so long. And to finally have someone and have someone we’re close to, and that I do see on a daily basis, being able to give us this gift is something I can’t even begin to formulate words to say thank you.”
