Kidney donor goes way out of her way
By Misti Crane | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Those who know Sarah Lolli are proud, but not surprised, that she crossed the ocean to give one of her kidneys to Teresa Jacott.

That's just Sarah. If she has something and someone needs it, it's theirs.

Never mind the hurdles, including extensive medical tests, or the fact that she had to navigate airports and keep a 19-month-old daughter content for a 13-hour trip from Italy. And never mind that she has a job, is working on a college degree and would have to leave her husband and two sons for more than a month.

Once Lolli discovered that her kidney was a good match for Jacott, it was a done deal in her mind.

Lolli, 33, is Jacott's cousin's stepdaughter. The two met when Lolli was 8 years old and have seen each other off and on at family events. Lolli's husband, Geno, is in the Army and stationed in Vicenza, Italy.

Last summer, when Geno was on leave, the family went to a Fourth of July picnic at Jacott's house on the North Side.

Jacott, who is 50, received her first organ donation 23 years ago - a kidney and pancreas from a 15-year-old boy who had died after an asthma attack. The transplant, the first of its kind here, was featured in The Dispatch.

As kidney donations go, the organ lasted a long time. But it began to fail about seven years ago, putting Jacott on dialysis and eventually back on the list of almost 89,000 Americans awaiting a kidney from a deceased donor. The donor pancreas is still going strong.

Many family members and friends stepped forward, willing to donate. But one after another, they were ruled out.

After she left Jacott's party last summer, Lolli told her stepfather, Jeff Foit, that she wondered whether she could help. It wasn't as if she were a blood relative, however, so she figured the chance was remote.

Jacott said: "The next thing I know, a couple days later, she was calling and asking 'What do I need to do to donate?'"

Lolli remembers thinking, "Well, cool," when the tests showed she was a match.

Jacott didn't get too excited. Other opportunities had fallen through. And she kept telling Lolli that if she reconsidered, it was OK.

In Italy, Lolli underwent extensive urine and blood tests and other screenings to confirm her compatibility.

Eventually, everything appeared to come together, and the transplant was scheduled for early March. Lolli bought plane tickets with money donated by Jacott's friends and family.

But doctors decided with little notice that Jacott - who'd been suffering from respiratory problems - was not strong enough for the operation.

"I was angry, devastated, in shock," Jacott said.

Then, when doctors said the surgery could be safely scheduled for mid-May, the women were faced with a $3,200 bill to get new plane tickets. Jacott and Lolli's mother and stepfather came up with the money to fly her and 19-month-old Peyton to the United States and back.

Derrick, 15, and Xavier, 6, stayed behind with their dad.

Donors from abroad are rare, although people often travel from other states to give kidneys, said Marti Leitch, a spokeswoman for the Ohio State University Medical Center, where the women had their operations on May 13.

Both surgeries went well, and Jacott said she began to feel better immediately. Her friends have noticed more energy in her voice. Her color is improving. She's left dialysis behind.

"I find myself coming to tears when I think about it. To give somebody life like that, and not even think about it. ... I can't even think of words to thank her," Jacott said.

Lolli said she was frightened going into surgery for the first time in her life, but she didn't have a second thought before the transplant and hasn't had a regret since. She's feeling better every day and plans to return to Italy on June 11.

Lolli said some people have asked her what she'll do if one of her children needs a kidney some day. Even if she's a match, she won't be able to donate, they've pointed out.

"I don't live in what-ifs. What if nobody else donates to (Jacott) and she dies?"

Marla Foit, Lolli's mother, just shrugged as she listened to her daughter speak.

"She's caring. She doesn't think about herself first. She doesn't look at it - and I don't look at it - as her being a hero."

Jacott jumped in then.

"She was truly an angel to me."