Natalie Benevento Needs A Kidney To Live, Her Family Says

EAST HAVEN, CT — To live, Natalie Benevento needs a kidney. Her family is doing all it can to find a donor for the 66-year-old East Haven mother, grandmother and soon-to-be great-grandmother. Her grandson Jake Maturo said Benevento, who has been suffering from kidney disease for the last 20 years, is in kidney failure.

A Facebook page called 'Natalie Needs A Kidney,'is one of the ways to family is trying to get the word out: she needs a donor. And even if someone does not have the same blood type, Type ), they can still "trade for a kidney that is a match."

Maturo said his grandmother, who will be celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary this January to her high school sweetheart, Vinny, worked in banking sector from 1975 to 1990. "During this period of time she made many good friends for which she still enjoys their friendship’s forty years later."

In 1990, she began working at St. Raphael’s Hospital in the accounts receivable department where, once again, "her coworkers quickly became her work family, many of which she is very close with.

In 1998, after the birth of her second grandson, she decided to leave her job and help care for her grandsons. It was about then, Maturo said, the "long, hard road" began for her.

In 1998 during a routine physical, abnormalities with her kidney function were discovered. She went to a specialist and a "kidney biopsy revealed Glomerulonephritis of unknown origin." Maturo said that over the next several years controlling her diabetes and high blood pressure became very hard due to the decreasing kidney functions. A decade later, she began dialysis. Currently, she must undergo that treatment three times a week for four hours each time.

Maturo said that his grandmother "has the support of her husband, two children, two in-law children, five grandchildren, and many good friends: but the treatment is starting to take its toll on her over all health."

Matuor wrote in his plea for a kidney donor that, "At 66, Natalie has a lot of life to live, she is expecting her first great-grandchild in July and is hoping to be healthy enough to enjoy the next generation of her family."

The family has even taken to creating decals for their cars to get the message out.

Photo courtesy of Jake Maturo from 'Natalie Needs A Kidney' Facebook page.

Maturo said that anyone is interested in being a donor "to help save Natalie’s life, please contact us at NatNeedsKidney@gmail.com."