Kidney donor, recipient put their faith in God

By William k. Alcorn

YOUNGSTOWN — LaTanya Foster’s love of jewelry was the headwater of what she believes is a God-directed stream of events that led to a stranger’s offering her the kidney she needs.

The journey started in the jewelry department at the J.C. Penney in Boardman’s Southern Park Mall, where she likes to browse. LaTanya struck up a conversation that evolved into friendship with the clerk, Tim Mariano, of Girard.

She said he noticed the dialysis port in her arm and recognized it because his brother Tony had a kidney transplant in June 2005. The donor was Tony’s father, Vincent.

“We became really good friends and I ended up meeting his mom, Rebecca. She was really nice and wanted to help me raise money for my transplant,” LaTanya said.

Her friendship with the Mariano family grew, and Tony took her one Sunday last May to his church, New Life Baptist Church in New Wilmington, Pa., where his prayer group had been praying for her.

A member of that group is Christina “Christy” Crocker, of Grove City, who had been thinking for some time about donating one of her kidneys to someone. She personally understood the need because her husband, Dwight, had a kidney transplant on their wedding day, Sept. 26, 1998, after having been on dialysis for five years.

Christy said their wedding was outdoors in a dead zone for pagers, and Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh could not reach them with the long-awaited news that a kidney was available for Dwight. Finally, the hospital called the Pennsylvania State Police, who found the Crockers and delivered the message.

“I had been praying that God would give us a kidney before our honeymoon,” she said with a laugh.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.