AMESBURY — They say you don't know what you are capable of until you are called on to help.
Just ask sisters Sue Deorocki and Cathy Toomey of Amesbury. Both have donated life-saving kidneys — Toomey to her son, Sean, and Deorocki to her friend, Woody Cammett.
"I knew I wanted to help someone like that. It was a great experience and I couldn't believe how good it felt to be able to do it," Deorocki said.
The sisters' journey to donors began in 2001, when Toomey's son was attending college in St. Petersburg, Fla. The active 21-year-old soccer player started getting sick, first with a general weary feeling and later with muscle fatigue and coughing fits that ended with blood.
Sean Toomey returned home to Amesbury and was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Soon, he was undergoing dialysis three times a week to keep his failing kidneys operating while he awaited a kidney donor. The average wait for a transplant was five years.
Deorocki would often shuttle her nephew to dialysis appointments at Lahey Clinic in Burlington.
"Dialysis was awful. It's no way to live," Deorocki said.
Blood tests soon identified Sean Toomey's mother, Deorocki as well as another aunt, Terri Kidder, as potential kidney donors. While all three offered to donate, it was his mother who ultimately provided her son with a new kidney in 2003.
"I pulled the mom trump card. When it's your child, there are no decisions to be made. Anything that you're capable of doing, you will," Toomey said.
For almost five years, Sean enjoyed a normal life with a steady girlfriend and a job managing the Bedford branch of The Flatbread Co. Then in the winter of 2007, during a check-up with his doctors, his lab results came back with the news that his kidney function was down. By early 2008, he was back on dialysis.
The news was even more surprising because complications usually arise early on, not five years down the road.
"To see this all happen to someone so young and healthy scares you. It makes you sit up and pay attention," Deorocki said.
For medical reasons, doctors ruled out family donors this time around. Sean Toomey's friends were tested, but were turned down for various reasons, including age and health issues. Then, his coworker, Claudia Sanchez, was found to be a match. In 2008, Sean Toomey underwent his second kidney transplant. He now has a clean bill of health and is enjoying married life in Amesbury.
But as Sean Toomey's health was improving, family friend Cammett was seeing his health decline.
A combination of diabetes and high-blood pressure had ravaged his kidneys. By mid-2010, the only thing keeping Cammett off dialysis was his active search for a live donor. Deorocki decided to help.
"I had seen what Cathy and Sean went through. I had just watched my best friend lose her son, who I was like a second mother to," said Deorocki, referring to Holly Shay, whose son, Jordan, was killed in Iraq in 2009. "This was something I could do to help someone."
Deorocki said if she hadn't been a match for Cammett, she would have continued with the process and donated her kidney to someone else.
"It was like therapy for me. I had people who thought I was crazy, but it's not every day you get a chance to save someone's life," she said.
Things happened quickly. Two weeks after Deorocki underwent tests, she was identified as a match for Cammett. The transplant surgery took place the Monday before Thanksgiving, again at Lahey Clinic. Some of the members of the surgical staff were the same as when Toomey and her son underwent their transplant.
"I couldn't believe she would do this for me. I was so pleasantly surprised," said Cammett, whose health insurance covered the expenses.
Less than a week later, Cammett was leaving the hospital with a whole new life.
"The minute I was awake after surgery, I knew there was a difference," he said. "You don't realize how sick you are until you begin to feel better. I never really knew why I was so tired all the time, so cold. Now I have so much more energy."
Although problems can arise at any time and drug levels are still being adjusted, Cammett's transplant appears to be a success.
"Because of what Sue did, we can talk about the future again, and that's something we couldn't do for a long time," Cammett's wife, Marcia, said. "How can you ever thank someone for that? How do you say thank-you to someone who saved your life?"
While Cammett, who runs Cammett Engineering in Amesbury, still puts in full days at the office, he and his wife are looking forward to enjoying his newfound health with their two sons and four grandchildren.
Both Cathy Toomey and Deorocki, who work at Stone Ridge Properties in Amesbury, said they feel absolutely no different physically and would donate again if they could.
"People always ask if there are lasting effects, and beyond the tiny scars, there are none," Deorocki said. "If anything, I'm surprised at how easy the whole process was."
With most transplants remaining successful for 20 years, the need for donors is ongoing.
"We know at least five people who are on waiting lists for transplants right now," Cathy Toomey said. "If sharing our story triggers others to look into donating, then that's great. There are always more people in need of a kidney than those willing to give."
• • •
To learn more about kidney donation at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, visit www.lahey.org. or call 781-744-5100.
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament
Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought
Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington
Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance
NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted
Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
Neighbors of Etan Patz's Suspect: It's Shocking
Gulf Fishermen Reel From Seafood Troubles
Stuntman Makes Skydive Without Parachute in UK
Raw Video: Bride Who Faked Cancer Released
