DUKE CENTER – There’s two members of the Duke Center United
Methodist Church who are quite a pair.
Through the PAIR Partners Program – which is operated out of the
Buffalo (N.Y.) General Hospital Transplant Clinic – and the courage
of others across the nation, three people will be getting a kidney
transplant soon.
One of those recipients will be Fred Haskins of Rob Roy Road in
Foster Township. He has been on a transplant list for several years
at a Pittsburgh hospital and has been on daily dialysis.
Ronda Skoken of Duke Center had great empathy for Haskins, but
she was not a match for him. Then she learned all about the PAIR
Program, which makes it more possible to find a match. Skoken went
through extensive testing at Buffalo General, which determined she
could be a healthy donor. They went on the computer to find a match
for both Haskins and Skoken.
Both the Skoken and Haskins families are members of the
congregation at the Duke Center United Methodist Church. The PAIR
Program is a national program.
Skoken has volunteered one of her kidneys to somebody else if
they could find a match for Haskins. After months of waiting, they
received word that matches have been found.
“We were getting a little discouraged,” said Skoken, “but now I
am amazed and so grateful that three people will be getting a new
kidney who otherwise might not have had a chance.”
The announcement was made Sunday morning at the Duke Center
United Methodist Church, where both Skoken and Haskins have been on
the prayer list.
The way it will work is that Skoken will be going to Tampa,
Fla., to donate a kidney where a match was found.
“I am so lucky that my daughter lives there (Tampa) and my
grandson,” she said.
At the same time that she is donating a kidney at Tampa, a
Florida resident will donate a kidney to someone who is a match in
Georgia. And a donor from Georgia will donate a kidney to
Haskins.
Haskins will have his surgery at Buffalo General. All recipients
will remain in their area while the donors will all be
traveling.
The big day is scheduled for July 10, when six people will be
coordinated for the surgery.
Skoken got word on Monday that she is to go to a Tampa hospital
on June 9 for a week of pre-op tests. Then she will come back home
and wait for the July surgery. The program will pay for all of the
testing, but she must pay her own air fare down and back.
Skoken said she appreciates the contribution some have made
toward her efforts. She added that Buffalo General is excited
because it will be the first successful PAIR Partners team since
the program began there.
