Staff photo / Lily Nickel.... From left, Cheryl Makoski, Mark Makoski, Laurie Norris and Tim Norris consider themselves “extended family” after Laurie volunteered to donate a kidney to save Mark’s life. Laurie and Mark were not a direct match, but her willingness to donate allowed them to enter a paired donation program that made it possible for Mark to receive a kidney.

POLAND — The selfless act of one local woman ended up saving the lives of three people across the country, including her former boss.

It all started with a social media post.

In January 2020, Laurie Norris, of Poland, was scrolling through social media when she stumbled across a post about her boss from her bank job 24 years ago, Mark Makoski. The post was written by one of his daughters, Molly Blangero, letting his friends and family know that he was diagnosed with renal failure brought on by kidney disease and was in need of a kidney transplant.

“For those of you who know my Dad — you know that he is the most selfless, encouraging, supportive, hardworking man. He has given us everything,” Blangero wrote. “Many of those who were hopeful that they might be his match, were not. We are hoping that in 2020 my Dad will find his living donor or receive a kidney from a transplant list.”

Makoski was first diagnosed with end stage renal failure in October 2018 after years of kidney problems. He was approved for a transplant in January 2019 and was put on transplant waiting lists for hospitals in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, but time was not in his favor. His nephrologist told him that transplant centers and hospitals don’t like to do transplants after 72, an age he quickly was approaching. More than a dozen friends, family and even a few acquaintances from his college days got tested to see if they were a match. They were all rejected.

As their options began to run out, Makoski’s daughters, Molly and Calie, took to Facebook for one last plea, and within a few days it was answered.

“I can’t really explain it, but when I read the post, there was something in me that just felt like I was going to be the match. I don’t know what it was, it was really weird, but I’ve heard of other donors that feel the same way,” Norris said. “I reached out to his daughters and they told me to call the hospital and I got the ball rolling.”

While Norris and Makoski were now casual acquaintances, Norris said that Makoski played a pivotal role in her life all those years ago. She started working with him during a dark period of her life, and she said having him as her boss changed her life for the better.

“I had come out of a rough work situation when he hired me, and it was so wonderful there. It was life changing for me,” Norris said. “To be able to do this, it felt like a proper thanks. He’s just that kind of person.”

PAIRED DONATION

Norris began the rigorous testing process on Feb. 5, 2020, and she was approved to be a donor a few months later–but not for Makoski.

“We weren’t a direct match,” Norris said.

While Norris and Makoski were not a direct match, Norris’ willingness to donate and her clean bill of health made her the perfect donor, so University Hospital in Cleveland offered them the option of entering into a paired donation program.

“We didn’t know about the paired donation program. I always thought that you had to be a family member, or related somehow to be able to donate,” Norris said.

A paired donation program matches donors and candidates with other pairs who do not match. The transplant team enters the pair’s medical information into the National Kidney Registry to find a donor that matches the initial candidate, and a candidate that matches the initial donor.

In Makoski and Norris’ case, two other pairs were found.

Norris’ kidney would be going to a different candidate, and Makoski would be receiving a kidney from another donor. Norris and Makoski’s entry into the system completed the puzzle, and three donors were able to give kidneys to three candidates.

SURGERIES

On June 24, 2020, Makoski, Norris and the other donors and candidates were all prepped for surgery. The donors all went into surgery around 8 a.m. Eastern time, and the donated organs were then taken by plane to the three hospitals across the country. By 4 p.m., all of the kidneys arrived, and all three candidates went into surgery.

The surgery took place during the height of COVID-19, so Makoski’s wife, Cheryl, and Norris’ husband, Tim, were not allowed on the transplant floor. The isolation between both parties increased the anxiety around an already nerve-wracking situation. As Cheryl and Tim meandered around the hospital, they came across each other in the hallway.

“I’m going through the doors, I have my mask on and I’m headed back to my car, and I hear, ‘Tim!’ I turn and it’s Cheryl waiting to come back and see Mark after surgery,” Tim Norris said. “She was with a representative from the hospital and she told the woman, ‘This is our donor’s husband.’ The woman said, ‘I think you guys are going to need a minute,’ and she walks away, and we just start bawling. What are the odds of that happening?”

‘HIS DONOR’

While Norris did not give Makoski her kidney directly, Makoski still considers her his donor.

“We have the ability to reach out through the hospital or the National Kidney Registry to ask who they are if they agreed to that,” Makoski said. “But in essence, whomever this kidney came from, it doesn’t matter. She’s my donor.”

Norris’ donation gave Makoski his life back, and he and Cheryl still cannot find the words to describe how grateful they are for her gift of life.

“There aren’t any words that I can think of that can describe the feeling; the gratefulness, I don’t know how to put it into words to say thanks,” Cheryl said. “She saved his life.”

The couples, who now consider each other family, get together every few months to celebrate the transplant success, and on the first anniversary, they brought all of their families together for a family picnic. Norris was able to meet the Makoski daughters and six grandchildren, and at the end of the picnic, she had a special moment with their 9-year-old grandson, Beau.

“He came up to me and took my hands, and he said ‘Thank you for saving my Bop.’ And that was why I did it, that summed it up,” Norris said.

lnickel@tribtoday.com