My Kidney Transplant Story: Michael Palazzo
In 2009, I was a police officer on patrol and got into a pursuit with two guys on PCP. They crashed, one of them jumped on my back, and I ended up hurting my hand.
The swelling wasn’t going down, so they did a blood test and found out I was in Stage 5 kidney failure. I had no symptoms at all. If I didn’t get into that situation, I would have probably died. They determined it was due to FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis), which my great-grandmother apparently had, but no one else in the family.
From there, I went on dialysis for a couple weeks. A friend who was a Marine donated a kidney for me, and I had a transplant on January 15, 2010. Everything was going good—I went back to work and was living my life.
Then I got COVID three times. My creatinine went from 2.0 to 12 and I was in kidney failure again. I went back on dialysis on May 30, 2023. It was much worse this time. I felt horrible, both mentally and physically.
A couple of people wanted to donate, including my mom. The transplant team suggested they test my mom first, and she was a match. My girlfriend was also a match, and another guy in Texas wanted to be my donor. I was also contacted by Kidneys for First Responders, but my mother was dead set on doing it.
I had my cardiac workup in preparation for a transplant and it was fine. Then I had an angiogram, and they discovered four blockages. On September 12, 2023, I had a quadruple bypass. A few days later, I had my mother drive me to the gym so I could start walking. I started walking at a speed of .3 on the treadmill, and each day I went up a little.
Then on November 27, 2023, I had my kidney transplant. My recovery was great. I was back in the gym in three to four weeks. I feel like I’m 25 years old.