Tony Harding has received two kidney transplants and, as he says, he is ‘still swinging.”
                                 Submitted Photo

Tony Harding has received two kidney transplants and, as he says, he is ‘still swinging.”

Submitted Photo

Month shines light on need for organ donation

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<p>Tony Harding strongly support organ donation — he has received two kidneys that saved his life.</p>
                                 <p>Submitted Photo</p>

Tony Harding strongly support organ donation — he has received two kidneys that saved his life.

Submitted Photo

<p>Tony Harding has become a volunteer advocate for the Gift of Life Donor Program.</p>
                                 <p>Submitted Photo</p>

Tony Harding has become a volunteer advocate for the Gift of Life Donor Program.

Submitted Photo

<p>Attending the Kentucky Derby was one item on Tony Harding’s ‘bucket list.’</p>
                                 <p>Submitted Photo</p>

Attending the Kentucky Derby was one item on Tony Harding’s ‘bucket list.’

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<p>Tony Harding often speaks on behalf of the Gift of Life Donor Program.</p>
                                 <p>Submitted Photo</p>

Tony Harding often speaks on behalf of the Gift of Life Donor Program.

Submitted Photo

<p>Submitted Photo</p>

Submitted Photo

<p>Tony Harding of Scranton has received two kidney transplants.</p>
                                 <p>Submitted Photo</p>

Tony Harding of Scranton has received two kidney transplants.

Submitted Photo

<p>Organ recipient Tony Harding has been taking precautions like wearing a mask for many years.</p>
                                 <p>Submitted Photo</p>

Organ recipient Tony Harding has been taking precautions like wearing a mask for many years.

Submitted Photo

<p>Korbin Keene donated hs bone marrow in 2015.</p>

Korbin Keene donated hs bone marrow in 2015.

WILKES-BARRE — One thing Tony Harding can’t wait to do is stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.

You heard that right.

After all, Harding has already been to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Derby, a Bob Seger concert, a Pittsburgh Penguins game and Ralphie’s house from the movie “A Christmas Story,” and he’s been to the house where his father grew up in Pittsburgh.

All were “bucket list” items for Harding.

Why? Because Harding has stared death in the face twice, but as he says, he’s “still swinging.”

Harding, of Scranton, will turn 56 this month, which happens to be National Donate Life Month.

Harding has been given the gift of life twice, having received a new kidney from his two greatest heroes — his sister, Donna, and the other from a young man who was killed in a car accident at age 32.

So as Harding continues to check things off of his bucket list, he appreciates his second and third leases on life.

“I didn’t go through two kidney transplants to not do anything,” Harding said.

Harding said Seger and his music played a big part in his recoveries.

When he set out on his first bucket list journey, he said he dropped his daughter off at school and decided to drive to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. And he kept “rollin’ as Seger would sing.

It was a difficult time for Harding. In addition to recovering from his first kidney transplant, his marriage was breaking up and he was facing all sorts of issues of uncertainty.

He said when he arrived at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, there was a chair in the awaiting room with his name on it.

“It was up to me to decide.” Harding said. “I stood on that mountain top. I could either die in this place, or I could own this and survive.”

2 kidney transplants

Harding said he has polycystic kidney disease. He has gone through two separate transplants — the first was in 2002 and the donor was his sister, Donna. The second was in 2015 when an anonymous donor died in a car accident.

During the first procedure, Harding said both of his kidneys were removed — he said they were enlarged to the size of footballs.

Twelve years later, his new kidney failed, so he began dialysis treatments as he was placed on a waiting list for a new kidney. He waited 15 months, a short time, he said, because most recipients wait five to six years as a search for a donor match is conducted.

“I got really lucky,” Harding said. “I’ve received two new kidneys.”

The second transplant was performed at Geisinger Danville, he said.

Now six years out from the second transplant, Harding says he feels great.

“The kidney is working fine,” he said. “But the first six months after the second transplant, I fought three different rejection episodes and I also contracted a few viruses.”

Harding said he has been using hand sanitizer and following other mitigation procedures for years, not unlike how most people are during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I was already living like that,” he said. “Because anything I catch could attack my organs because it is easier for me to catch things because I have no immune system.”

Harding has become an advocate and volunteer/ambassador for the Gift of Life Donor Program that is based out of Philadelphia. It’s an organ procurement organization and Harding attends health fairs and often tells his story to people considering becoming an organ donor.

His participation also enabled Harding to meet his girlfriend, also a recipient of a transplant.

“One donor can save eight lives, help two people see again, and help 75 other individuals through tissue, – tissue, ligament and bone marrow transplants,” Harding said.

“Organ donation meant life for me. My two greatest heroes are my sister and a donor I never met.”

Harding said he has gone through so much in his lifetime that he wanted to give back. He became a patient advocate for dialysis patients to help them get through the ordeal.

“I’m still swinging,” Harding said. “I received my first kidney transplant when I was 37 — the second at age 50. Today, I feel amazing.”

At that Bob Seger concert in Detroit, Harding said the first song played was his favorite song, “Roll Me Away.”

“Stood alone on a mountain top

Starin’ out at the Great Divide

I could go East, I could go West

It was all up to me to decide

Just then I saw a young hawk flyin’

And my soul began to rise

And pretty soon

My heart was singin’

Roll, roll me away

I’m gonna roll me away tonight

Gotta keep rollin’, gotta keep ridin’

Keep searching ‘til I find what’s right

And as the sunset faded, I spoke

To the faintest first starlight

And I said next time

Next time.”

Thanks to his two “donor heroes,” Harding has had many next times in his life and, as he says, he keeps rollin’.

“I’m still swingin,’” he said again.

That’s why he will someday be standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.

Gift of Life program

Susan Koomer, community relations coordinator with the Gift of Life Donor Program, said the nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organization serves 11.3 million people in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.

She said since 1974, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 52,500 life-saving organs for transplant, and approximately 1.75 million tissue transplants have resulted from the generosity of donors and their families.

Koomer provided a few facts about Gift of Life & organ donation and how organ donation works.

• Everyone is encouraged to register as an organ and tissue donor to help save and heal lives. One organ donor can save eight lives.

• People can register anytime and learn more at www.donors1.org.

• Anyone can register regardless of age or medical history.

“The number of people in need of transplants far exceeds the number of organs, tissues and corneas that are donated, and at Gift of Life, we’re passionate about educating people on the need to become an organ, tissue and cornea donor,” said Howard M. Nathan, president and CEO at Gift of Life. “Registering to become a donor only takes about 30 seconds, but it’s one of the most meaningful ways individuals can inspire hope and change the life of someone waiting for a transplant.”

Current donor registration rate:

• Luzerne County: 45%

• Pennsylvania: 49%

Koomer said the region served by Gift of Life — including Luzerne County and all of Northeast Pennsylvania — has been the most generous for organ donation in the United States for 13 consecutive years.

Koomer said every minute counts for more than 5,000 children and adults waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in Luzerne County and across this region, according to Gift of Life Donor Program.

She said Gift of Life is working to give each person on the waitlist a second chance at life and invites everyone to join in celebrating the power of organ and tissue donation this April, which is National Donate Life Month.

Koomer said the impact of one donor is extraordinary — one organ donor can save up to eight lives and a tissue donor can transform the lives of more than 100 people through gifts of corneas, skin, bone, veins, ligaments, and heart valves.

5 ways to take part in National Donate Life Month:

• Register as a donor: Visit donors1.org to sign up today. It’s quick and easy. Anyone can be a potential donor regardless of age or medical history.

• Share your decision: Tell your family and friends about your life-saving decision and encourage them to sign up. Donors are heroes.

• Learn more: Explore our website at donors1.org to discover facts versus myths about donation and much more.

• Connect on social media: Read and share inspiring stories about donors and transplant recipients from our community by following Gift of Life on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

• Take a victory lap: The Gift of Life region has been the most generous for organ and tissue donation in the United States every year since 2008. Selfless donors and their compassionate families have saved thousands of lives with support from healthcare heroes in the 128 acute care hospitals and 15 transplant centers that Gift of Life works with.

A donor reflects

In 2015, Korbin Keene told his mom that he wanted to sign up, so she drove from Larksville to Erie and took him to the Cleveland Clinic to get on the Bone Marrow Registry.

Keene, now 28 years old, lives in Florida and he is engaged to be married.

In late September, 2015, Korbin, a 23-year-old physical therapy doctoral candidate at Gannon University in Erie, held the door of life open to someone he had never met and never would.

Korbin was volunteering at Gannon, passing out information about becoming a bone marrow donor. Korbin was eager to sign up as many donors as possible — and he did, starting with himself.

Korbin called his mom, Karen, who is a registered nurse, to tell her of his decision. It turned out, unbeknownst to Korbin, that his mother had signed up on the BeTheMatch.com registry two years before Korbin.

Korbin was matched within a year — his mom has never been called to donate.

“When it came down to it, it wasn’t why I wanted to register, it was because of what I learned in research,” Keene said. “I could potentially be the only person that would be an acceptable match to save a person’s life.”

Keene said he looked at it this way.

“First, I had the opportunity,” he said. “I was a young, healthy individual and I felt I could help another person. I never second-guessed my decision at all.”

Keene said he would do it again, but he can’t. In 2018, the Bone Marrow Registry reached out to him because a surgeon was trying to find a less-invasive way to extract bone marrow from a donor. The surgeons goal was to shorten the procedure and have it be less painful.

Keene volunteered for the program. He said he would be an organ donor upon death because he knows the importance of organ donations.

“Look at it from this perspective — that one of your loved ones could be in need,” he said. “Wouldn’t you want to be that person to donate, or be able to find a match for a donor?”

Keene said he was always brought up to help others, like holding a door open for others to enter.

Keene donated his bone marrow to a person he doesn’t know and may never meet, but none of that matters to him. He said he will always know that his action saved another person’s life.

“My mindset was that I was saving someone’s life and that’s good enough for me.” he said.

Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.