Tom McAnulty hates asking for help, but right now, he has no choice.
A retired Massachusetts state trooper has spent his life helping others — but now, he's in need of help as he searches an organ donor following a kidney failure diagnosis.
Tom McAnulty lives in Walpole with his wife of over three decades, Kathleen. The two were looking forward to their retired lives, when Tom received life-changing news in 2020.
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"Out of the clear blue, went in for a regular physical, which I always did," Tom said. "They found, your creatinine level was elevated which that’s the kidney function, which I never even realized... So I had to go in the hospital. And that's when we found out."
That was also when Tom and Kathleen's world was flipped upside down, with their bedroom becoming an at-home dialysis center for Tom.
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"Because there really is only two choices for treatment — dialysis and a kidney transplant," Kathleen said. "But you can't stay on dialysis forever. We're lucky we have that. And we're blessed that they have that treatment option because it's keeping him alive right now."
But Tom is in dire need of a new kidney. With years-long wait times on the deceased donor list, the couple is searching for a living donor, which are known to have better outcomes than deceased donors.
"And so once we exhausted all of the family and friends, then we said, 'We need to do something,'" Kathleen said. "And he was very reluctant to go out there and, put his name out there and his face out there and saying, 'I need help.' Because he's usually that one — that helps... Now he needs help."
They've been spreading the word with a micro website through the National Kidney Registry, on social media, with newspapers, fliers, even a billboard last year along 495.
No one has been identified as a viable donor for Tom yet. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions for the McAnulty couple.
"There is nothing else that we can do but try to be positive," Kathleen said. "It's a big ask to ask somebody. But there is no other choice."
Tom has a team of doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Dr. Stefan Tullius leads the hospital's transplant surgery division.
"What happens to those patients on dialysis is that their health condition deteriorates," he said. "And what we do with every patient, we encourage them to look for a living donor because we know that the wait time is so terribly long."
Tullius has personally performed around 2,000 kidney transplants, something he calls an amazing privilege.
"With persistence and the wonderful gifts that donors provide, one really can move forward and get the kidney that is a life saver and a life changer," Tullius said.
Brigham is affiliated with the National Kidney Registry, which helps to facilitate about half of the kidney transplants done there. The organization supports donors and recipients through a number of programs and helps patients to find a donor.
E.J. Tamez is the organization's patient coaching director
"I donated a kidney to my younger brother seven years ago," Tamez said. "And so we walked that road, and we have the experience on what we need to work on, first of all, for that patient to understand where they are. And how we can help them through their journey to provide him with the tools available through the NKR and the center to help them find that living donor."
According to the National Kidney Foundation, 123,000 are on wait lists for lifesaving organ transplants. Over 101,000 of those people are in need of a kidney — but only 17,000 get a kidney each year.
The McAnultys hope that Tom is one of those lucky ones very soon.
"You can save a life. Put it that way. Even if it's not mine. That's the main thing," Tom said.
"But we do want to save your life and we want to be able to get back to the plans that we had for when he retired," Kathleen said. "We just want to get back to being us."
Click here to learn more about Tom's story, and to learn how you can help.
