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Kidney donor, recipient put faith in God
‘This is not just my Christmas gift. It’s New Year’s and Valentine’s Day and birthday and my every-day-of-the-year gift.’
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 Crocker, known as Christy, 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.
They were married at 1:47 p.m., drove to the hospital and found out at 10 p.m. that the donor kidney was a match; Dwight went into surgery around midnight. They went to Williamsburg, Va., for their honeymoon in December 1998, and returned the next year on their anniversary.
When Tony brought LaTanya to New Life Baptist, he introduced her to parishioners, including Christy.
Even before the women formally met, they had noticed each other and felt a special connection.
“I saw her come into church. We made eye contact and smiled. I kept thinking about her all through the service. Then we met, and it was incredible,” Christy said. “I realized she was the one we had been praying for who needed a kidney.
“To me, it’s giving back because God gave such a wonderful miracle to us. We didn’t know it would be a match. ... It’s a miracle,” she said.
LaTanya recalled: “She approached me and told me they had been praying for me in her prayer group, and said God had laid it on her to give me a kidney.”
She was skeptical at first because a lot of people had said they wanted to be a donor but did not follow through. But, LaTanya said, “She began calling me, and I started believing she was serious.”
“Something passed between us at church that day. I think it was God at work. I’m obedient to God, and I received little confirmations that I was on the right track,” Christy said.
Her husband’s doctor opposed her donating a kidney to LaTanya, saying that her husband might need it someday.
Wondering if she was doing the right thing, she said she asked Jesus for help, and some of the words of three old hymns came to her mind.
“I called my Mom [she was just entering church] and asked her to look them up in the hymnal for me,” Christy said.
Christy said her mother read the words to “His Eye is on the Sparrow,” “Make Me a Blessing,” and “Constantly Abiding” to her. “I just cried and cried as she read the words. I was convinced I was on the right track.”
Shortly after, LaTanya and Christy received word they were a match. The surgery is scheduled at this point for Jan. 12 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
“My husband is in it all the way. He’s not worried. I cried many, many tears wondering if this is right. But, I know it is and that God will take care of him,” Christy said.
When the women went to Grove City Medical Center on Tuesday for final tests, it was only the third time they had seen each other.
“Through all this, LaTanya and I have become really good friends and spiritual encouragers for each other. She’s a really sweet person. We’ve gained friends in the process,” Christy said.
LaTanya, who loved to travel before she became ill, said when she first told her story in The Vindicator in 2007 that if she received a kidney, she’d take the donor to Aruba.
She laughed when reminded of that. “It might take me a while to get the money back, but I would love to take Christy to Aruba,” she said.
As the transplant gets closer, LaTanya said she is having many varied feelings. “I think about how my life will change. I’ll have so much more freedom and I will feel better and get my youth back,” said LaTanya, who is 34. “This whole dialysis thing has aged me.”
“I’m really not worried, because of Christy’s faith. She believes so strongly. I was writing in my journal last night: ‘I’m thankful to God for meeting her, and not just because she wants to give me a kidney. She has increased my faith. She has helped me so much,’” LaTanya said.
“When I try to tell people my story now, all I can say is this is only part one. I have no idea what it is now, but I feel God has a plan for me ... for both of us,” she said.
“This is not just my Christmas gift. It’s New Year’s and Valentine’s Day and birthday and my every-day-of-the-year gift,” LaTanya added.
alcorn@vindy.com