ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Webster man is celebrating the 100th birthday of the kidney his mom donated to him as a teenager. In March 1978, surgeons at Strong Hospital transplanted a kidney into 16-year-old Ray Vetuskey. The story behind that kidney is now one for the record books.
Vetuskey grew up in Seabreeze as the youngest of five kids and always had a special bond with his mom Betty, “she was a great lady; everyone loved her in the neighborhood,” Vetuskey recalls.
When he was a teenager, Vetuskey started having health issues and doctors ran several tests. “They told the doctors that the kidneys aren’t working and put me on dialysis,” Vetuskey says.
The dialysis did not help; his kidneys didn’t recover and the only option was a transplant.
Betty Vetuskey, who was 52 years old at the time, offered one of her kidneys to her son. “I don’t think she gave it two thoughts, anything she could do to help her son, I think she would have done anything which she did in my eyes,” Vetuskey remembers.
Vetuskey still has his calendar from March 1978, with the date of his surgery circled along with another date for a Genesis concert. “We were both on the gurneys, holding hands and mom was crying and said don’t worry about a thing because I got a concert to go to and I’m not going to miss it,” he says with a laugh.
The transplant was a success and Vetuskey made it to the concert, “I have the ticket still, I have the ticket stub still,” he says.
Forty-eight years later, Betty’s kidney is still working for her son, making him the longest surviving kidney transplant recipient in Strong Hospital’s history.
“In our program for sure, and I think in my life too,” says Dr. Miklos Molnar, the Director of Transplant Medical Services at URochester Medicine.
A living kidney donation typically lasts 15 to 20 years. “The special connection, biologically it’s important as well as mom and son sharing a lot of DNA but also emotionally that’s a different connection,” Dr. Molnar says.
Betty has passed away but would have been 100 this year, and Vetuskey is still thriving with her century-old kidney. “Every day I think of her, doesn’t a day go by…She’s right by my side, all the time,” her son says.
Vetuskey found another way to honor his mom and the second chance at life she gave him. “I had a star named after her so she’s in the national star registry for all of eternity, she’s in the heavens,” he says.
Vetuskey only needs to visit Strong Hospital once a year for a check-up, and doctors believe the century-old kidney could last him the rest of his life.
Currently, about 500 people in our region are waiting for a kidney transplant and hundreds more are waiting for other organ transplants.
While 72% of people locally are registered donors, the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network encourages more people to consider signing up. “If I could help a 16 year old like Ray, he needed his transplant when he was 16, if I could help save the life of a 16-year-old, would I want to do that and these are the stories and decisions we love for people to think about now, while there’s time,” says Nancy Ryan.
Anyone older than 16 can sign up to be a donor. People can limit which organs and tissues they want to donate, modify or withdraw from the registry at any time. For more information, click here.
Webster man celebrating the 100th birthday of the kidney his mom donated to him as a teenager WHEC.com.
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