Celebrating the 100th birthday of the kidney donated to him as a teenager

Ray Vetuskey of Webster marked a personal milestone tied to an extraordinary transplant: a kidney his mother Betty donated when he was 16 in March 1978 is still functioning 48 years later. Surgeons at Strong Hospital successfully implanted the living-donor organ when Vetuskey’s own kidneys failed and dialysis proved ineffective. He kept mementos from that time - a hospital calendar with the surgery date circled and a concert ticket stub from the day he and his mother were discharged - and credits her willingness to donate with giving him a second life. Betty has since passed away and would have turned 100 this year; Vetuskey honors her memory by having a star registered in her name. Clinic follow-up for him is now annual, and transplant physicians say the donated kidney may continue to serve him for the remainder of his life.

Clinicians note that living-kidney grafts typically last 15-20 years, so this case stands out and is Strong Hospital’s longest-surviving kidney transplant. Doctors point to both biological closeness and the emotional bond between parent and child as possible factors in long-term success. Locally about 500 people are awaiting kidneys and many more await other organs; roughly 72% of residents are registered donors. The Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network urges more people aged 16 and older to consider joining the registry, with options to specify which organs or tissues to donate.