ICYMI: Farmingdale Couple Seeks Kidney Donor: 'We've Been Dealt Quite A Hand'

FARMINGDALE, NY — Bill Moritz was set to put his 11-year battle with kidney disease behind him. But his health took a bad turn in March 2020 — bad enough that he was considered a candidate for a kidney transplant. It turned out his wife, Madeline, was a perfect match.

But as Madeline prepared in May to give Bill her kidney, doctors diagnosed her with leukemia.

"I was working full-time, feeling great, and my labs came back askew," Madeline Moritz told Patch. "Within two weeks, I was an in-patient at the hospital for two months, receiving lots of rounds of chemo."

Bill was feeling well enough since his diagnosis that he did not immediately need the transplant. The Moritz family tried waiting until he began feeling unwell before doing the transplant.

"Obviously, the kidney that he would’ve gotten only lasts a certain amount of time, and we wanted to preserve the life of his natural kidney," Madeline said.

Now, Bill, 52, and Madeline, 48, the Farmingdale parents of a 19-year-old daughter and sons who are 17 and 9, are seeking a new kidney donor.

Bill has been on a long road with his disease, while Madeline's path has just begun. He said he has learned to cope with it.

"You learn how to live minute-by-minute and not take things for granted," he said. "You learn that worrying is only going to make things harder, so you try not to worry. The things that you have put in your head are positive things. You just continue to take the good news along with the bad news, but you just put the good news above it all. It’s really the only way that you can survive. You basically wake up, you thank the good Lord that you’re here, you look at your family and then you just live your life. It’s really the only way you can get through this. For me to have to battle kidney disease, and at the same time, see my wife be diagnosed with leukemia, it’s just something that I never thought I would have to deal with."

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• GoFundMe for Moritz family.
• Anyone interested in donating a kidney to Bill should call the NSUH Living Donor Line at 516-562-0550 or email transplantsurgery@northwell.edu.