Arizona man uses creative method to find kidney donor

By Elliot Polakoff

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    MESA, Arizona (KTVK, KPHO) — After having Type 2 Diabetes for the last 30 years, Nino DiGiulio found out a few months ago that his kidney was failing, and he needed someone to donate him a new one.

DiGiulio is unfortunately far from the only person that needs a new kidney, but there aren’t many people that use the back of their truck to help them get one. DiGiulio hopes that a little creative self-promotion will help set him apart: his truck’s decal says, “I need a kidney, can u help?”

“I was like what?” DiGiulio said. “At first, I was a little apprehensive.”

The idea of the car decal originated a few months ago from DiGiulio’s sister Laura Farrell. And it didn’t take long for it to stick, literally. “Every time you drove somewhere, people would see it,” Farrell said.

And then, they’d see the email address to reach out: Beemydonor@gmail.com. It’s spelled with two e’s because someone already took bemydonor@gmail.com.

Up until now, there have been no offers of donating a kidney to DiGiulio, but he has received some emails with words of encouragement.

“It means everything,” DiGiulio said. “When I’m down and thinking about it and thinking there’s no hope, getting an email really, really helps. It keeps me going.”

Through the three rounds of dialysis, DiGiulio receives each week, as well as the uncertainty of when (or worse, if) that new kidney will ever come.

After having Type 2 Diabetes for the last 30 years, Nino DiGiulio found out a few months ago that his kidney was failing, and he needed someone to donate him a new one.

But DiGiulio and Farrell back in Texas continue to keep fighting. “I feel like there’s a plan for my brother; I’m very hopeful,” Farrell said. “And I’m confident. I think there’s somebody out there, the right person for him to donate their kidney.”

DiGiulio has his name on a kidney donor list, where he says the wait is estimated to be three to seven years. But maybe the car will make that donor appear sooner. If it does, expect the back of the car to look a little different.

“I think I might change it and say something like thanks for your help; I found a kidney donor,” DiGiulio said. “Something like that.”

DiGiulio said that once he gets a new kidney, one of the first things he wants is to travel to Texas more often to spend more time with his family.

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