Motorcycle Lover Finds A Match

TORRINGTON, CT – Mike Wallace expects to enjoy a healthier 2016 with a transplanted kidney and looks forward to traveling again after three years of having to endure more than nine hours of nightly peritoneal dialysis due to kidney disease. He was forced to stay positive back at Thanksgiving when he learned a potential organ donor who could save his life could not go through with the operation, and the optimism and patience has now paid off.

Wallace, owner of Southworth’s Wayside Furniture and an avid motorcycle collector, is scheduled to receive a kidney donated by a Torrington customer during a transplant operation at Yale-New Haven Hospital on Tuesday.  Donor Steve Rylander said he volunteered to go through the screening process upon hearing of Wallace’s dire situation in late September.

Mike Wallace, left, and Steve Rylander

“For me, it was not ever a decision – just make the call. The decision was already made in my mind. It was immediate,” said Rylander, who is also a motorcycle enthusiast. In fact, he was riding his Bluetooth-equipped 2015 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic on Route 8 in mid-November when he received the call from the hospital that he was a match for Wallace.

Rylander soon delivered the good news directly to Wallace during a visit to the store, where he has purchased furniture in the past. Rylander asked Wallace if they could speak privately and asked Wallace if he remembered him. Wallace said yes, although he was unable to remember Rylander’s name.

Rylander then revealed that he’d gone through the screening process at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “I’m a match,” he said, “and I’d like to offer you a kidney.”

“I was humbled and amazed,” said Wallace, recalling the conversation. “Humbled is the best way to describe it.”

Wallace immediately called his father, Jack Wallace. The elder Wallace had launched a social media campaign in September to locate a kidney for his son, which prompted an initial story in the Republican-American and here on Sept. 13.

Only a few other relatives and friends were informed that a match for Wallace had been found. The recipient and the donor wanted to keep the news of the pending transplant under wraps until they went through a final screening at the hospital on Monday. Joyce Albert, who coordinates the program for donors offering kidneys at Yale-New Haven hospital, said the transplant will proceed “provided there are no last-minute issues.”

Steve Rylander, left, and Mike Wallace 

Wallace, 52, was diagnosed with kidney disease a dozen years ago, but lived a fairly normal life until being forced to go on dialysis. Each night, he hooks himself to a machine in his home from midnight until 9:15 a.m. , a process that can be painful. Wallace said he is “excited and scared – all at the same time” by the prospect of the operation. “I don’t have too many choices in the matter. I show up,” he said.

A full incision will be required to implant a kidney in Wallace, but the removal of a kidney from the 60-year-old Rylander will be done laparoscopically, which is less invasive. Rylander said he isn’t apprehensive after meeting with the transplant staff at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “I’m amazed at what they do,” he said. There is no cost to the donor.

Jack Wallace is perhaps more emotional than his son over the events of the past four months and the upcoming transplant. “It has been an interesting ride. We are overwhelmed to know that someone would actually come forward and do something like this. We’re just thankful for everyone who said their prayers and offered their kidneys. I think we’re still in shock,” he said.

The normal wait time for a kidney, depending on blood type, is two to six years when the organ coms from a deceased donor. The process can be much quicker when a live donor is involved. In Wallace’s case, Albert said, “Many people reached out to be tested as donors.” And Wallace was fortunate in that viable candidates were quickly found.

Mike Wallace and Tim Sparks

The first would-be donor was Tim Sparks, a 56-year-old Bantam native who moved to Watertown in August. As revealed in the Republican-American on Nov. 22 and here on Nov. 23, Sparks seemingly made it through the screening process. However, a final MRI showed what could be a cancerous tumor on one of his kidneys.  While the discovery disqualified him from donating, it may also have saved his life.

Sparks will be operated on Thursday at Yale-New Haven Hospital to have the tumor removed. “The surgeon said he’s done hundreds of them and usually there are no complications,” said Sparks, who is also a lover of motorcycles and who volunteered to help Wallace because of the motorcycle connection. “I have no symptoms whatsoever. Never did. Going into it, I’m confident as far as recovering and recuperation.”

Rylander was next in line. “Once Tim was ruled out, Steve started all his testing,” Albert said. Wallace said he learned of Rylander being approved only a few days after Sparks had to step aside. “I figured something would happen but not this fast,” said Wallace, who recalled being visited by Rylander. “He told me they have surgery scheduled for January. I said, ‘They do?’”

Rylander works for the fiber optics firm Nufern in East Granby and is using vacation and medical leave time to be able to donate a kidney. “They’ve been very good about it. It’s a first for them,” he said of his employer.

Wallace is looking forward to getting off of dialysis and having a normal life again thanks to a transplanted kidney. “It’ll free me up. I won’t have to be in bed at 12. I’ll be able to travel again,” he said.

The operation may be free for the donor, but the recipient will have expenses that are not covered by insurance. Jack Wallace has created a GoFundMe account dubbed the Mike Wallace Kidney Transplant Fund to help defray some expenses. “We’ve estimated his out of pockets costs this year will be over $22,000. That’s beyond his insurance. Some of these drugs are unbelievable,” he said.

(A version of this story appeared in the “Republican-American” on Jan. 1, 2015.)