Perry Spevack Goes the Extra Mile to Become a Kidney Donor

Perry Spevack has always been blessed with strong health — and his awareness of it is part of the blessing. “I’m now 62 and I’ll be honest: I just always seem to feel great,” he said.

Part of the reason, though, would be how he gives. For him, it’s not leading with a check but checking in every couple of months with ChristianaCare to give blood at the Blood Bank of Delmarva at the Christiana Donor Center at Hygeia Drive in Newark, Delaware. In fact, he is one of a rare group of people who has given more than 10 gallons over his lifetime.

“I also have given money, yes, to causes, but it makes me feel wonderful to help lives through donating blood. That’s what made me want to make a different kind of commitment,” he said.

What does it take to be a living kidney donor? Click here to find out.

He decided to make an altruistic living kidney donation — donating a kidney to someone he did not know. The benefits are exponential:

• A transplant from a living donor has the best outcomes.
• Living donation shortens the wait time for a person in need to less than a year, compared to up to an average waiting period of up to eight years for a deceased donor kidney.
• Living donor kidneys generally function immediately after transplant. A deceased donor kidney might take several days or weeks to function normally.

Spevack made his kidney donation in August 2023 through the ChristianaCare Kidney Transplant Program.

“It wasn’t important for me to know who I was giving the kidney to,” he said. “I just know how many people are waiting for one. I felt this was a way for me to make a difference.”

Going through a series of tests, he was found to be fit to donate.

“Among the things they had me do were a psychological evaluation, a stress test and 2D and 3D imaging,” he said. “What people need to understand is that they can change their mind at any time. I think if it was done with pressure, where I was made to feel I couldn’t decide it wasn’t for me at the last moment, I wouldn’t have felt as comfortable doing it.”

Making the world a ‘better place’

Spevack said his career as a scientist contributes to his perspective.

A Ph.D.-level scientist working as a researcher at W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., for almost 30 years, he has had a hand in medical device development.

“I do think my background allows me to see kidney donation from the 10,000-foot view,” he said. “There are about 20,000 kidney transplants done in the U.S. yearly and there are about 100,000 people on waiting lists for kidneys.

“For those who are living donors, many know the person getting the kidney. But I think many more would give to someone they don’t know if they were educated on the process, and that’s what I want to share.”

About 100,000 people are on the national waiting list for a kidney transplant.

Spevack noted that there wasn’t any cost to him throughout and he was be able to return to work two weeks after the transplant. A year after the procedure, he has long been back to his healthy lifestyle.

“I still run my six miles three or four times a week,” he said. “I eat healthy — but don’t think I’m a fanatic. I’m definitely a foodie and I like fast food sometimes like anyone else!”

He hopes his donation will make a difference in another’s life as he has had his own experience with tragedy, losing his wife Christine from complications due to cancer.

“My own loss isn’t what inspired me to do this, but I will tell you something good has always come out of giving one way or the other,” he said. “In fact, I met my wife through volunteering … I know my wife would have supported what I did. We always wanted to make the world a little better place.”