Sean C. Morgan
John Picco and his wife, Sandie, are asking for help raising money for a kidney and pancreas transplant.
They must raise $50,000 to even be placed on the transplant list. The transplant itself will be 80 percent covered by Medicare, but Picco must raise enough money to cover his portion of the transplant costs, including 100 percent of his medications, including anti-rejection drugs.
With the assistance of the National Foundation for Transplant, a committee of family members and friends has been organized to help raise funds. Donations through the foundation are tax-deductible.
“It’s kind of amazing,” Picco said about the possibility of a transplant. “You get a second chance at life.”
Picco spends more than four hours every three days undergoing hemo-dialysis.
“They just failed,” Picco said. “I’m a diabetic. It’s one of the onset problems you can get from diabetes.”
Picco has been a type-one diabetic since the age of six.
The Piccos and friends are organizing a series of fund-raising events to help raise the $50,000.
First will be a Thanksgiving dinner at the Frontier Lounge by Ken and Cathy Douglas.
On Dec. 18, Wal-Mart will match funds raised in a bake sale at the store in Lebanon.
On Dec. 21, Chafin Farms will offer carriage rides for $5.
“We’ve just been overwhelmed with this whole thing that’s going on,” Picco said of the way people have come together to help him.
When he receives his transplants, “it’s going to be something,” Picco said. “I’ve never known what it’s like to be healthy.”
Picco, 33, has lived in Sweet Home for eight years. He moved here with Sandie from Huntington Beach, Calif.
With him being sick, overall a small town is less stressful and quieter, Sandie said. Her grandfather lives in Sweet Home, and they were familiar with the area.
“There’s more of a sense of community,” Picco said. “When I first moved here, people came just to welcome us.”
Picco worked up until about three years ago, first at Timber Valley Milk in Lebanon then at VSI Veterinarian Supply until he got too sick to work.
“It started with a dog bite,” Sandie said. When he was bitten by a dog, the hospital gave him an anti-biotic that attacks the kidneys. “Our world was turned upside down so fast.”
“My kidney function went from 35 percent to 0 percent,” Picco said.
Picco gets by with a playful sense of humor.
“I’ve got to be optimistic, put a new spin on life,” Picco said. “You start to get this sense of clarity. You see things differently. You see things for what they are. You don’t sweat the small things.”
That sense of humor and joking around helps get Sandie by too, she said.
“I’m a handful for her,” Picco said. “I give her a hard time.”
Turning serious, he said, “She’s gone to bat for me every single time.”
Both are attending Linn-Benton Community College, and they share a goal of looking forward to the future together.
A new kidney isn’t a guarantee, Picco said. It could last him 15 years or six months.
But anything’s better than dialysis, Sandie said.
The Piccos want to give special thanks to people who are helping, including Jason and Erin Findley, who helped them get connected with the foundation and are creating a website for them.
For information, persons may go to an online shopping mall at igive.org through http://www.johnpicco.homestead.com/fundraising.html. He also may be found at http://www.transplants.org.
For further information, persons may contact Sandie at 367-5799.