Test of friendship: Donors offer gift of life to brothers

By William K. Alcorn

Amy was a willing donor, but her kidneys are too small.

CANFIELD — There are friends — and then there are amazing friends, brothers Joseph B. Turkle and Randall Patrick Bokesch learned when they needed kidney transplants.

Rick Spitznagel and Amy Geskey offered not just encouraging words or a shoulder to cry on. They offered life itself, in the form of kidneys to Turkle and Bokesch.

The half-brothers were diagnosed with the kidney disease glomerulonephritis, also known as glomerular nephritis, within a few months of each other: Turkle in July 2004, and Bokesch in January 2005.

Rick and Amy are not related to the brothers. They sought no financial compensation. They did not respond to a request. They found out about the need, and to the complete surprise of the brothers, independently offered to donate a kidney: Spitznagel to Turkle, and Geskey to Bokesch.

Just as amazing, the volunteer donors turned out to be matches.

For Turkle, 39, of Boardman, things could not have worked out better.

His transplant was on Jan. 4 at The Ohio State University Medical Center. He was released from the hospital on Jan. 9 and went back to work at his business, Oscarduffs Painting in Boardman, in five weeks. He has been sailing along since with no rejection issues.

In the case of Patrick, 23, the process hasn’t been as smooth.

It was very encouraging at the start, with Amy easily passing physical and psychological evaluations. On the final day of physical testing, however, doctors discovered that because of physical anomalies as a result of low birthweight, Amy’s kidneys are not suitable for transplant.

Turkle, a 1987 graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, is the son of Nancy Bokesch and her first husband, Joseph B. Turkle, who is deceased. Patrick Bokesch, a 2003 graduate of Fitch, is Nancy’s son with her second husband, Randall Bokesch.

“We were scared out of our wits,” said Mrs. Bokesch, when she and her husband learned of the diagnoses.

But a few years later, things were looking up, with both men having friends like Spitznagel and Geskey.

“A lot of things worked in my favor,” Turkle said.

He was on dialysis for 31/2 years before his transplant and waiting for a cadaver kidney, but was still able to urinate and didn’t have diabetes, which he said was “huge. My father died of diabetes.”

Turkle said he hadn’t talked to Spitznagel, a 1987 Fitch graduate, for 10 years. But as youngsters, they had “been like brothers.”

Spitznagel called and, during the catching-up conversation, Turkle told his childhood buddy that he had kidney disease and was on dialysis. “He was floored,” Turkle said.

About a month later, it was Turkle’s turn to be floored.

Turkle said Spitznagel, now living and working in the Columbus area, called and said: “Are you sitting down? What do you think about me giving you a kidney?”

“I broke down. He had always been there for me as a kid, and here he was again saving me. He did it without a second thought. He’s my hero,” said Turkle, who lives in Boardman with his girlfriend, Lisa Holstein, and her three children.

“We were good friends since grade school. I just wanted to help out and do what I could,” said Spitznagel, the son of Bill and Julie Spitznagel of East Liberty, Ohio, formerly of Austintown.

Patrick admitted it was a “bad day” when he learned Amy was not a good candidate to be donor, especially after so much optimism and anticipation.

Patrick was officially diagnosed with kidney disease in January 2005, but all the signs were there in summer 2004. He was on the varsity football team at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., and when he reported for camp it was discovered his blood pressure was elevated, a symptom of the disease. He was cleared to play that year, but that was the end of his football career.

He had a dialysis port implanted, but has not had to go on dialysis and is feeling better now that the pressure of college has been lifted. He graduated from The Ohio State University in June with a bachelor of arts degree in history, and is planning to study law.

Geskey, 24, was one of their new neighbors when the Bokesch family moved to Canfield in 2004. Unlike Turkle and Spitznagel, who were friends from childhood, Amy and Patrick have known each other for just four years, making her actions all the more amazing, Patrick said.

Amy is a 2002 graduate of Canfield High School and is now a second-year medical student at OSU. She is the daughter of Audrey and Mike Geskey. Her decision to donate a kidney was made while she and Patrick were hanging out during the 2007 Christmas holiday season.

“After hearing what he could and could not do, and knowing the gift of a kidney would not affect my ability to do things, it was kind of a no-brainer. I told him on Christmas Eve,” she said.

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic decided she is, among other things, too tiny for her kidney to be anything by a temporary solution for Patrick. “I was a low-birthweight baby and have small-volume kidneys that developed extra renal arteries that would make the connection to Patrick difficult,” she said.

Laparoscopic surgery, which was originally planned, would not be possible, and the transplant would involve a much more invasive technique. The clincher is that while the transplant could still be done, it would not last Patrick for very long and his subsequent transplant would be more difficult, she said.

Amy, who was eager to be a live organ donor, said she will not volunteer again for someone else — “not after everything I found out about myself ... that my low birthweight doubled my risk of high blood pressure.”

“I hope another person comes along who is better suited to help Patrick,” she said.

Even though it did not work out, Patrick said he is eternally grateful for Amy’s offer.

“You don’t know how to react to being given a second lease on life. What do you say, ‘thank you, I owe my life to you?’ I still don’t know how to react,” he said.

Patrick’s transplant would probably have been on June 10. Despite the disappointment, Patrick said he is moving forward with his life.

“It was kind of a blow, but probably more so to my parents than to me. I just looked at it from the standpoint I was back to where I was six months before,” he said.

He plans to take a year off from school to “get my health back in order so I can approach law school full steam. I am looking for an internship in a law office around here to get some real-life experience,” he said.

Regarding organ donation, Patrick said while it is everyone’s personal choice, he encourages people, especially if they are already thinking about it, to do it. “It’s the easiest thing you can do, just check a box on your drivers license to save a life,” said Patrick, who has been an organ donor since obtaining his drivers license.

“You can’t take them [your organs] with you, so let someone else benefit from them,” he said.

Mrs. Bokesch said she is sure Patrick will find a donor. He is blood type “O,” and is on the waiting list at the Cleveland Clinic. She also urged people to become organ donors. Donors do not pay for anything, neither the testing nor the actual operation. Insurance covers it all, she said.

The biggest message, said Turkle, is that there are people, like Amy and Rick, doing this without a second thought.

“You don’t bring it up with your friends. You don’t. But, if someone comes forward, that’s a blessing. I feel very blessed to have Amy in my life,” Patrick said.

alcorn@vindy.com