LI 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."

Bill admitted he would not have the same amount of strength to battle his disease if not for his family.

"Madeline and my children are the ones who gave me the strength to go through this," he said. "Without them, it would be me worrying about myself. But I don’t want to worry about myself. I want to take care of them, and I want to worry about them. And that’s what I did, and that’s what I will continue to do to make sure I get through this. My children were my biggest inspiration in all of this.”

Meanwhile, Madeline is bracing for a year-long battle with leukemia. She'll receive more chemo and, eventually, stem cell transplants.

"I have a long road ahead, but I’m very, very optimistic that I’ll actually be cured at some point," she said. "That’s what we’re going for: a cure. I have everything in my favor. I have no reason not to be optimistic."

After facing a fight with leukemia just as she was about to donate her kidney to help her husband, Madeline believes things have to work out for her family to restore balance.

"We’ve been dealt quite a hand, but you can’t choose what God gives you," she said. "I’m really confident that someone is going to step forward and this is all going to work out. I’m really very optimistic about that. I have no doubt we’re going to find a living donor. I really don’t.”

For the Moritzes, that is the priority: finding a kidney donor for Bill. "A Kidney for Bill" was made on Facebook to help the family find people interested in being screened as potential kidney donors.

A GoFundMe was set up for the Moritz family, and more than $9,700 has been raised in less than a week. The fundraiser was created by Ralph Balsamo, Madeline's brother.

"They have three wonderful children, so if you are willing to help this family, please donate," Balsamo wrote. "Due to these unfortunate circumstances, Madeline cannot work."

Bill, meanwhile, served as a stay-at-home dad with their three children. The family has no income as a result, Madeline said.

Kathy Santucci, who worked under Madeline at the Glen Cove Center for Nursing And Rehabilitation, created "akidneyforbill2022" on Instagram when she heard what happened to the Moritz family. When the family asked for help spreading the word on social media, Santucci volunteered to serve as Bill's "Kidney Champion," or someone willing to ask around and educate people about kidney disease, as well as the options available to patients with the disease.

Santucci said she felt "compelled" to help the Moritz family.

"It would make me feel really great if I was able to help Bill find a kidney," Santucci said.

Anyone interested in donating a kidney to Bill should call the NSUH Living Donor Line at 516-562-0550 or email transplantsurgery@northwell.edu. Madeline said the living donor experts are best equipped to answer questions and ease misconceptions, such as one needing to share Bill's blood type to donate a kidney.

There is also a swap program, Madeline said.

"If you’re not a direct match for the person you want to donate to, you might be a direct match for someone else on the kidney registry," she said. "That person’s loved one may be a match for you. They do a swap program. They do both surgeries at the same time, and you’re really saving two lives."

Bill said his family has received a lot of help.

"This support that we got, whether it was a prayer, whether it was a thought, whether it was a meal sent over to us, whether it was a gift, just really lifted my spirits throughout this whole thing," he said. "I’m very, very thankful for anyone who did anything to help us, whether it was talk about the situation, spread the word, say a prayer. Anything. We’re so very grateful for all of it.”

Bill and Madeline were friends through living in the same town and having the same friends. They went to Farmingdale State College together. From there, they built a strong friendship, and eventually, a marriage with three children. Now, they are fighting to keep it all going.

“They both have incredible strength," Santucci said of Bill and Madeline. "To me, they have an amazing relationship. They seem to build each other up. She is determined to find this man a kidney.”