Michael Luongo of Norwich feels fortunate to be alive.

Luongo was born with a birth defect called urinary reflux, which was repaired with surgery when he was a year old. If he had been born four years earlier, he would not have lived, because the surgery wasn’t being done on children then.

Still, it left Luongo with only 40 percent kidney function, at best, he said in an email. Luongo’s parents were told that one day their son would need a kidney transplant.

Throughout his childhood and into his 20s, Luongo coped with a compromised immune system, fatigue, lower stamina than his peers, leg and body cramping and other medical issues.

When he was 28, his doctor told him his kidney function was continuing to decline and they should start talking about his options.

“He explained that I could do dialysis and/or consider having an organ transplant,” he said. “I knew that I wanted to avoid dialysis, if I could.”

As his kidney function deteriorated further, Luongo’s doctor referred him to a transplant center, and an initial meeting was held.

“At that meeting, I was told to bring potential organ donors, so that they could be tested to see if they were a match,” Luongo, 49, recalled.

“After that meeting, my kidney function numbers kept fluctuating in and out of the range where I could be transplanted.”

Then, in 2002 during Halloween, Luongo got a serious case of food poisoning.

“This caused my kidney function to crash,” he said. “ went from being just healthy enough that I wasn’t eligible for a transplant to being too sick to be transplanted.”

Luongo was forced to take a medical leave of absence from his job and was immediately put on hemodialysis. The transplant center monitored his progress as doctors prepared for his transplant.

“I truly believe that I am one of the lucky ones,” Luongo said. “I had two potential living donors. One was my sister (Carolyn) and the other was my brother-in-law (Carolyn’s husband, Shaun Patenaude).”

On Feb. 19, 2003, Luongo received “The Gift of Life” from Shaun at Hartford Hospital.

“Even though he is very modest and says that it was no big deal, it was an extremely big deal to me,” Luongo said. “I truly believe that there are heroes here on earth and he is one of them. He did something completely unselfish, and there are no words that can express my gratitude to him fully.”

Patenaude, 53, of Durham, said during a telephone interview that he realizes that donating a kidney is very important and he doesn’t mean to minimize it.

“Honestly I’ve never noticed it’s gone, and I just think of it as not a big deal to me,” he said. “It’s emotional. It makes me feel really happy that I can provide something to him that is hard to find,” he added, “so that he can live a better life.”

Patenaude said donating a kidney doesn’t hurt physically or psychologically. “It certainly is going to bring you happiness. Sure, there’s a risk of, you know, losing a kidney, but you do have an extra one and I think it’s worth the risk.”

Since his kidney was removed laparoscopically, which is a minimally invasive surgery wherein three small incisions are made, less recuperation time is needed.

“I was in the hospital for 75 hours and that was it. There were no complications from it,” said Patenaude, adding that he was back at work four weeks later instead of the predicted six weeks.

“Since my transplant, I have returned to a very active and full life,” said Luongo, who is a licensed professional counselor who specializes in counseling people who are awaiting transplants. “Besides my brother-in-law, I am so thankful to my beautiful wife (Ann Marie), who was my caretaker and biggest support while I recovered. I owe so much to the transplant community, as well. They showed me that I was not alone.”

In the beginning, the “implanted kidney” was always on their minds, Ann Marie Luongo said. Now, life feels more normal and they don’t think about the transplant all the time, she added.

“We try to volunteer and do organ donation promotion, but we’re not as anxious anymore about it obviously,” she said.

According to transplant experts, over 105,000 people nationwide are currently on the waitlist for various types of organ donation. There are just over 1,200 people waiting here in Connecticut

Program Director Alison Keating of Donate Life Connecticut said in an email that her nonprofit organization’s mission is to increase awareness of organ and tissue donation through public outreach and education and increase the number of registered donors, which is then notated with the “heart” symbol on donors’ licenses.

“People of all ages and medical histories (including individuals who have had cancer and those who currently have diabetes, hepatitis and other illnesses), should consider themselves potential donors,” Keating said. “A person’s medical condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tissues can be donated.”

She added that one donor can save up to eight lives and improve the condition of up to 75 people through cornea and tissue donation. Keating encouraged people to “talk to their family about organ donation and register their decision at RegisterMe.org/ct.

“It is so important to register your decision to be an organ donor as it helps your family during such an emotional time,” Keating said.

According to the United Network of Organ Sharing, “the number of deceased organ donors and deceased-donor organ transplants performed in 2020 in the United States reached all-time highs in spite of the pandemic.”

Keating explained the process of matching organ donors to patients on the waitlist starts when brain death occurs.

“The Organ Procurement Organization speaks with the family of the deceased patient, discusses whether the patient was a registered donor and would then oversee the matching process,” Keating said.

Luongo’s wife Ann Marie said she realizes there was always the possibility that if her husband didn’t get the transplant, “he might not be here today. So I think when you go through something like that, it just kind of makes you appreciate the little things and maybe not sweat some of the small stuff.”

“We try to tell each other we love each other every day, because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Michael Luongo’s personal feeling is that “God intervened long before things really came to transplant, because if my sister didn’t meet her husband (Shaun), I don’t know what would have happened, because he ended up being my donor, and I don’t believe that was by chance.”

For more information, go online to www.DonateLifeCt.org, or call 203-387-1549.

Program Director Alison Keating of Donate Life Connecticut dispels common myths

Program Director Alison Keating of Donate Life Connecticut dispels common myths about organ donation:

Will medical personnel abandon attempts to save someone's life if they know the person is an organ donor? This continues to be a very common myth as some people do worry they won’t get the care they need in case of an accident. Donation is only a possibility once all efforts to save the patient’s life have been exhausted and a patient has no brain or brainstem activity.

Does my religion support organ, eye and tissue donation? All major religions support donation as a final act of compassion and generosity. For more in-depth information on religious views on organ, eye and tissue donation, go to www.donatelife.net/organ-donation-and-religion.

Is there a cost to be an organ, eye and tissue donor? There is no cost to the donor’s family or estate for donation. The donor family pays only for medical expenses before death and costs associated with funeral arrangements.

Does donation affect funeral plans? Funeral arrangements of your choice are possible, including a viewing. Through the entire donation process the body is treated with care and respect. Following donation, funeral arrangements can continue as planned.