Football is more than a passion for Frank Romano, a former Derby High School linebacker.
It may have extended his life.
Romano, 59, had renal failure, and required dialysis three times a week. But a college football connection resulted in a kidney transplant on July 17.
Now Romano is recovering from surgery, and giving credit to the “football brotherhood.”
The kidney came by way of Dr. Mark Sobel, a fellow University of Maryland alumnus whose son died of a heart infection in July.
Although Romano and Sobel attended the University of Maryland at different times, they both had played football at the school, and struck up a friendship at alumni events.
“Football is a brotherhood kind of thing,” Romano said Wednesday morning. “You always kind of bond.”
Mark Sobel
Dr. Sobel is an orthopedic surgeon who practices in New Jersey and New York City. He played defensive end at Maryland and graduated in 1982.
He said in a telephone interview Wednesday he struck up a friendship with Romano 12 years ago after the two met at a football hall of fame event in New York. They attended games together and had tailgating parties over the years and was aware of his kidney problems that began in 2008.
When Sobel’s son, Mark Sobel Jr., was dying in July of a heart infection at the age of 17, Sobel thought of Romano and his need for a kidney.
When it came time to take his son off life support, Sobel told the doctors he had someone in mind to donate the organ to: Romano.
“We are grateful we could give Mark’s kidney to Frank,” Sobel said.
Frank Romano
Romano graduated from Derby High School in 1970 and had played on the 1969 state championship Derby football team. He was an offensive guard and offensive tackle at the University of Maryland, and graduated from the college in 1975.
He went on to a career as a restaurant owner, operating the former Frankie’s Grill on Pershing Drive in Derby. He retied in 2009, because of his kidney problems.
When Romano was sick, the word went out into the Valley community, and a flurry of calls from old friends of football days came in, offering help, said his daughter, Julia Soda.
“The amount of people that called and came to visit, called and emailed us, to ask how is he doing, was amazing. A lot of it stems from his football background,” Soda said.
Soda and her sister Victoria Romano, who know lives in Delaware, grew up attending Maryland Terrapins games and events with their dad.
Recovery
Romano underwent the surgery at Yale New Haven Hospital on July 17.
Now, Romano is following his doctor’s orders and taking his anti-rejection medication every day.
He takes 40 pills a day. He avoids crowds and children, because his immune system is weakened and he has low resistance to germs.
He is hoping for the best, and tears come to his eyes when he thinks of how he has a potentially longer life.
“It’s something I can never pay back, but you have to pay it forward,” he said of the good fortune that has come to him.
He has a few ideas about how he will do that, but doesn’t want to talk about them just yet.
“I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag,” he said with a smile.
Frank Romano was very lucky to get a Kidney transplant. There are now over 110,000 people on the National Transplant Waiting List, with over 50% of these people dying before they get a transplant. Most of these deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transplantable organs every year.
There is another good way to put a big dent in the organ shortage – if you don’t agree to donate your organs when you die, then you go to the back of the waiting list if you ever need an organ to live.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. About 50% of the organs transplanted in the United States go to people who haven’t agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at http://www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition. LifeSharers has over 14,700 members, including 156 members in Connecticut.
Please contact me – Dave Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers – if your readers would like to learn more about our innovative approach to increasing the number of organ donors. I can arrange interviews with some of our local members if you’re interested. My email address is daveundis@lifesharers.org. My phone number is 615-351-8622.
In football and in life, the difference between being a winner and a loser is often one extra step. Through the actions of Mark Sr. and Mary Grace, Markie is even more of a winner because he has helped another individual go that extra step and succeed against insurmountable odds of renal disease. I am so proud to be a friend of the Sobel family, as their tenacity and selflessness at a time of great sorrow has allowed for someone else to win. It raises the bar and reminds us of the importance that others make on our lives; their actions are what community and “brotherhood” is all about. Markie will always have a place in my heart but also in that of others.
I had the pleasure of having a connection with Frank’s parents, when they operated a restaurant business at the former, historic Derby Hotel Clark, and I conducted a consumer finance business, in the same building. Great family! Frank’s uncle Ralph, was later elected as Mayor of Derby — whom I knew previously as a fellow student at Shelton High School. I also had a close association with his uncle, Joseph Romano, a friend from the loan-company-days. When I formerly lived in Shelton, I used to pick up his uncle Robert, residing in Orange, and gave him a lift to New Haven, where we were both employed.
I have been very fortuunate to have had many onnections with Frank’s outstanding family, and still have the pleasure to be serving with Frank’s loving brother –Joseph R. Romano, on the Board of Commissioners, of the Derby Housing Authority.
Joe is a great guy, also — in the great Romano family tradition!