Just ask Mike DiPiano and Stuart Geffner, M.D.
For Mike DiPiano, Athletic Director at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, a complication of diabetes he developed during adolescence led to kidney failure and the need for dialysis treatments three times a week. After two years of dialysis, a stranger’s untimely death provided the 48-year-old husband and father of three teenagers with the opportunity for a simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Today, Mike heightens community awareness by speaking to adult and student groups about giving the gift of life. “I would do anything anyone asked of me to spread this message,” says Mike. “I owe it to the people who are sick and the family that donated their loved one’s organs for me.”
For Stuart Geffner, M.D., Director of Transplant Surgery at RWJBarnabas Health, accepting the status quo is unacceptable. Board certified in surgery and fellowship-trained in transplant surgery, Dr. Geffner has performed numerous “medical firsts” in New Jersey, including renal transplantation on the youngest pediatric patient in the state as well as the first laparoscopic kidney donation. “The work we do and the opportunities we provide our patients are the result of the courage and generosity of our donor families,” he says.