BRIGANTINE — Mayor Andy Simpson found a kidney.
It was a monthslong search for a match, with the help of his kids and a billboard on the White Horse Pike in Atlantic City asking for donors.
The match turned out to be Dena Kabala, a family friend and neighbor.
The tests went through. The surgery was scheduled.
The mayor was to get a new kidney March 17. But four days before the surgery, he got an unsettling phone call.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the surgery would be postponed indefinitely. To help slow the spread of the virus, many hospitals around the country have postponed elective surgeries until COVID-19 is no longer a major health risk, especially to those with compromised immune systems.
“Of course there was disappointment,” Simpson said. “I expected it because of what was going on in the world and everything. I was upset, but it was better than going in there and getting corona(virus) and dying. I’m doing OK with dialyses and everything. It wasn’t like I was keeling over or anything like that.”
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Simpson, 62, has been a diabetic for more than 30 years. About two years ago, he was hospitalized for appendicitis. At that time, he was given contrast dye, a substance used for imaging, which affected his kidneys.
Rather than rely on an 8-years-long waiting list, his family became proactive and erected the billboard, and made a Facebook page, pleading for a donor.
Kabala was a perfect match and agreed to give Simpson her kidney.
In the days leading up to the scheduled surgery, he had planned on making certain preparations, but it turned into an ordinary weekend. There was no longer anything to prepare for.
“I was getting pre pared to have major surgery, and then I had to come off that high and say, ‘This is the best thing for me,’” he said.
Kabala, 49, got the call from her donor team, through the donor team at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, the same night as Simpson.
Unlike the mayor, she didn’t expect the surgery to be postponed.
“I was upset, I guess,” she said. “You’re prepared, you’re ready for it. It’s the anticipation of waiting for it and not knowing, but I understand with the health risk.”
She wanted to call Simpson right away, but didn’t want him to receive the news by himself. Instead, she called his family first to make sure they were by his side.
“When you’re sick like this, it is discouraging,” she said. “You’re waiting for it, you’re pumped up for it. We were ready for it, and then you get that call.”
They both were very quiet on the phone, but knew the decision to postpone the surgery was in their best interest.
“But it plays on your mind,” she said. “At the time I was thinking, ‘Oh a couple days from now I’d be coming home from surgery.’ Now, it would’ve been behind us. In the end, I just have to think that I have to stay healthy and he has to stay healthy. My goal is to stay healthy so we can continue this process.”
Both Simpson and Kabala have been self-quarantined since mid-March. Going into surgery, they were told they couldn’t have any ailments. Not a head cold, not the flu, not even a sniffle.
They’re currently taking extra precautions as Simpson got word the surgery may now happen sooner rather than later.
And last week, he was told the surgery is now planned to move forward in the coming weeks.
“Probably within three weeks I’ll have the kidney,” he said. “There’s no date or anything yet, but they’re talking that it’s going to be soon.”
But pre-op and post-op will look different, he said.
He and his donor will be quarantined, separately, before and after the surgery and will be tested for COVID-19.
And although Simpson remains optimistic, there’s always uncertainty. He’s waited for so long. He was so close. It’s hard for him to get his hopes up until it actually happens.
“Not knowing when I’m going to get (the kidney) is the hardest part,” he said. “I was excited before, but got let down, so I’m not really thinking about it until I get the phone call.”
