A Simsbury priest is thankful for his life this Thanksgiving.
A year and half ago, doctors told Father Michael Whyte, who suffers from type 1 diabetes, he needed a kidney transplant or would be hooked up to a dialysis machine with five to seven years to live, according to the archdiocese of Hartford.
When Maggie Domashinski, a member of the congregation at St. Catherine of Siena in West Simsbury, heard the news, she started undergoing tests to see if she could help.
“I knew I was a match. I know that’s kind of spooky, but I did,” she said, according to the archdiocese. “I asked him at one point, ‘What is your blood type?’ When he said, ‘O positive,’ I told my husband, I’m a match for him.”
Both Domashinski and Whyte are Irish and Italian, both are Catholic and both share similar upbringings and family values. They are almost the same age, too: He is 54 and she 53, the according to the archdiocese.
Domashinski turned out to be a match and the transplant was scheduled for Sept. 9.
On the day of his surgery, Whyte's doctor at Yale-New Haven Hospital told Whyte his kidney was working at three percent of capacity. Without the transplant, Whyte could have died within six months, according to the archdiocese.
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“It is very difficult when someone tells you that they are considering getting tested or they would like to give you a body part,” Whyte said in a statement. “Thank you doesn’t seem to be quite appropriate.”
Whyte said he is looking forward to completing renovations to the church’s sanctuary, while Maggie is making plans to continue her missionary work in Uganda.
