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PAGE 16 COVER FEATURE IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT • APRIL // MAY 2019

Kidney

Donor Gives

LARRY

ABO

A Second

Chance

at Life

He Has Much To Be
Thankful For in April,

National Donate Life Month

Larry Abo preps his pill supply for two weeks, which includes anti-rejection medications. PHOTO BY DIANNA TROYER.

BY DIANNA TROYER

Besides his biological birthday, Larry Abo celebrates his second-
chance-at-life birthday on June 22, the date he received the gift of a
donated kidney two years ago. The retired chemist, 59, waited 4-½
years for the phone call that would end his daily at-home dialysis.
While waiting for a kidney, he lived in limbo and relied on “good
friends who helped me stay optimistic even when my skin started
turning gray.”
Humor helped him, too. He jokingly calls himself the $2-million
man. “That’s about the cost of my medical expenses for the past six
years,” he said.
Unlike Abo, about 800 Idahoans await an organ donation, according
to the nonprofit Intermountain Donor Services. Potential donors may
either designate on their driver’s license they are willing to donate or
register at www.yesidaho.org. To encourage organ donations, Donate
Life America designates April as National Donate Life Month.
Before the transplant, he underwent self-administered dialysis
every night at home. “Waiting takes a toll. You live by the phone.”
Then came that momentous moment. “They called at 9 a.m. and
told me to stay close to the phone. Later that evening, they said to be
there at 9 the next morning,” he said. “It was such a relief.”
He and his wife, JoEtta, 58, drove 190 miles to Murray, Utah, where
surgeons at the Intermountain Medical Center did the transplant.
“The kidney started working right away,” he said.
Abo said every day is a celebration of life for him and JoEtta, despite
lifestyle changes and new dietary restrictions to protect his immune
system and kidney from bacteria.
“I’m Japanese and love sushi but can’t eat it anymore,” he said.
“I have to cook all my vegetables to at least 160 degrees.
He’s also not supposed to work in the garden because of bacteria
in the soil. “I wear gloves. My dad still has a big garden, so I help him.
We love the fresh vegetables from it.”
Abo still faces uncertainty with his donated kidney. After the trans-
plant, he learned the donor had lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease.
The doctor doing his follow-up care at the University of Utah While on the transplant list, Larry and his family vacationed in Oregon. He was placed on a standby
Hospital told him. list, so he wouldn’t lose his place on the list. PHOTO COURTESY OF LARRY ABO