CHICAGO — Bill Rosales had struggled for months to ask for help by the time he got a call from a high school friend. The Chicago firefighter desperately needed a kidney transplant to treat a rare genetic disorder.<\/p>\n
He hadn\u2019t spoken much in several years to the friend, Jason Fuggiti, who also happens to be a firefighter in the southwest suburbs. Rosales assumed he was simply checking in on his health, so he was floored by Fuggiti\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe goes, \u2018Well, I just left Loyola hospital \u2026 and I got a kidney for you whenever you need it,\u201d Rosales, 47, of Dunning, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so shocked,\u201d he continued. \u201cI had no idea he even knew I needed a kidney. I had no idea he\u2019d already started the process to get tested and got cleared. I was saved by my old high school buddy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Rosales initially kept his diagnosis quiet, when his fellow firefighters learned about his search for a donor, they posted on social media and hung up posters in firehouses across the city. Rosales, who received the successful transplant last month after years of declining health, was \u201coverwhelmed\u201d by the support.<\/p>\n
In fact, Megan Parker, Loyola Medicine\u2019s transplant coordinator, said there was such a \u201clarge influx\u201d at one point that it was impossible to get through all the applications. Ultimately, at least 30 people expressed interest in donating, much more than the three people that\u2019s typically considered high, Parker said. Another friend even decided to donate his kidney to a stranger when he wasn\u2019t a match.<\/p>\n
For Fuggiti, it was an easy decision to go through with the donation, in large part because of the \u201cselfless mentality\u201d and \u201cdeeper understanding of life and death\u201d he\u2019s developed through his nearly 20-year career as a Bolingbrook firefighter. The 46-year-old also said firefighters get to know each other on a deeply personal level.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes down to it, we\u2019re willing to risk our lives for people we don\u2019t know on a regular basis,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when it comes to helping somebody that\u2019s that close to you, to me it feels like it\u2019s a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018My body was betraying me\u2019<\/p>\n
It was around 3 a.m. when Rosales got called out to a fire raging in Little Village.<\/p>\n
As Rosales worked to stop the blaze from spreading, the roof of a home collapsed. A section of the chimney fell, hitting Rosales as he stood on a gangway, and leaving him with torn shoulder ligaments and lots of bruises.<\/p>\n
It was while being treated for this 2019 injury that a doctor first told him his kidney levels were abnormal. Though at the time, his medical team didn\u2019t think much of it, chalking it up to dehydration or bruising.<\/p>\n
When a few years passed and Rosales\u2019 kidney function still hadn\u2019t improved, he said he needed to learn why. One specialist said his kidney looked like someone who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, but Rosales insisted he didn\u2019t smoke. Another was completely stumped about the cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t understand how my body was betraying me like this at a fairly young age,\u201d Rosales said.<\/p>\n
Using a DNA sample, a doctor at Loyola Medicine determined that Rosales actually had a rare genetic kidney disorder, called autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease. The condition causes his kidney\u2019s tissue to become scarred and unable to do its job of filtering blood and creating urine properly, said Dr. Lucia De Gregorio, a transplant surgeon at Loyola.<\/p>\n
When Rosales learned it was inevitable that he\u2019d need a kidney transplant, he was startled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just felt like if I just drank more water, ate better, lived a healthier lifestyle, maybe I could reverse this and change this outcome, but that was just myself being in denial,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His condition, meanwhile, continued to deteriorate as the months passed. He felt tired all the time but could barely sleep at night because he constantly had to use the bathroom. When he attended an education seminar about kidney transplants, he met others who appeared much sicker than him and thought, \u201cMy God, this is my future.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also learned at the Loyola seminar that the average wait time for a deceased donor kidney transplant in Illinois is about five to seven years, a statistic he found \u201cfrightening.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were saying that if I had to wait the six years, I had a 40% chance of survival,\u201d Rosales said. \u201cAnd that was a very hard thing to hear because at this point I didn\u2019t know what I was going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rosales\u2019 wife, Dana Rosales, said the diagnosis felt like the \u201cend of the world\u201d at first. She worried about caring for her husband and their 14-year-old son at the same time. She felt some comfort in having seen successful kidney transplants firsthand as a nurse, but nothing matched the relief of finding a donor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at Jason now and I\u2019m so grateful to him,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then in my mind, it just shows me how great my husband is. Got a lot of people that care about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Posters in every firehouse<\/p>\n
Rosales joined CFD about a decade ago after a prior career as an electrician. He said he was looking for a more rewarding job and was inspired by his firefighter father-in-law, Dennis Edwards, who told him, \u201cIf I don\u2019t go in there and try and save those people, who\u2019s going to do it?\u201d<\/p>\n
He worked in the Uptown and North Lawndale neighborhoods, but when his health went downhill, Rosales had to slow down. So he trained to become a fire investigator, where he determines the cause of blazes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re able to put arsonists away and get them off the streets,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were able to give closure to people. We are also able to solve mysteries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fuggiti, meanwhile, started out his career as an emergency medical technician before joining the Bolingbrook Fire Department in 2007, where he\u2019s now a firefighter engineer. He\u2019s also a father to two daughters.<\/p>\n
One of the first people Rosales confided in about needing a kidney transplant was a lieutenant he worked with on the West Side. The first words out of his mouth, Rosales said, were \u201cHow do I get tested?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that point I really couldn\u2019t bring myself to ask anyone for help,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing a fireman, it\u2019s like for myself, at least, it was very hard to say, \u2018I need help.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though that lieutenant didn\u2019t end up qualifying to be a donor, Rosales said he got the ball rolling on spreading the word. Posters went in every firehouse in Chicago, he said.<\/p>\n
When Fuggiti saw the flyer, he said he quickly signed up as a potential donor. He said he knew if their situations were reversed, Rosales would have done the same for him.<\/p>\n
The pair met in their sophomore year of high school at Gordon Tech, now called DePaul College Prep, when Fuggiti was a new student. They bonded over music and skateboarding, and were roommates for a year after they graduated.<\/p>\n
What makes a good donor<\/p>\n
It was clear from the beginning that Fuggiti was committed to the process, said Parker, Loyola\u2019s transplant coordinator. Becoming a donor involves a \u201cthorough evaluation\u201d that includes lab work, scans and psychological evaluations to ensure that the donor can live a \u201clong, normal, healthy life with one kidney,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n