MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — A Hudson woman is pleading for a new kidney donor after her transplant was unexpectedly canceled on the day of the procedure due to a health issue with the generous donor she met in a Target parking lot in Marlborough last year.
Gail Weisberg, 67, a breast cancer survivor who has end-stage kidney failure, has been on the transplant list for nearly three years, spending 10 hours each night connected to a machine doing at-home dialysis.
Tuesday’s unexpected setback was her fourth transplant cancellation. The previous three were due to COVID-19 and health issues. But never had she made it so far – with her donor feet away from the operating room.
“I’ve had a great face the whole three years, and this kind of sank the ship. It really was emotionally unbelievable,” Weisberg said. “I don’t have tears, because dialysis dries you out. And I sat there, and I had tears for the first time.”
Weisberg and her would-be donor, Debbie Munley, of Marlborough, arrived at Massachusetts General Hospital last Tuesday and began preoperative procedures.
As the transplant was delayed for hours due to another procedure in Munley’s operating room, her anesthesiologist reviewed her paperwork and noticed a heart issue Munley says doctors had missed during testing in December.
The transplant was canceled and both women were sent home.
“I was all prepped. I was in my stretcher. I looked through the double doors, talked to my anesthesiologist, talked to the prep team, and I was that close,” Munley said. “We were both so looking forward to what was going to happen and the end result. But it just didn’t happen… It’s an emotional roller coaster. There are so many feelings going through, just colliding.”
Weisberg and Munley had met last summer after Munley spotted Weisberg’s sign on her car pleading for a living kidney donor. Munley never hesitated to help a stranger and immediately underwent testing, excited to be told she was a match.
As Munley now navigates her new diagnosis – myocardial ischemia, a condition in which blood flow to the heart is restricted – she believes her decision to help save Weisberg’s life could have saved her own.
“Absolutely, I never would have known,” Munley said, encouraging others to take their heart health seriously and get screened.
While Munley is still hopeful she will be cleared to donate to her new friend, Weisberg said her doctors told her she will need a new donor.
Weisberg is now renewing her campaign for a living donor, knowing an organ harvested from a deceased patient will take longer than she can afford.
“I can’t sit back,” Weisberg said. “The cadaver donor, it’s going to be anywhere from three to five years. Well, I’m not going to make it three to five years. It’s very dire for me.”
Mass General told Boston 25 News the hospital could not comment on the case by Monday’s deadline.
To see if you are a candidate to donate a kidney to Weisberg, email her at kidneyforever54@aol.com.
Supporters have set up a GoFundMe account to help Weisberg cover her medical expenses.
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