HAMBURG, N.Y. — Bri needs a kidney. That's the rallying cry for hundreds of Western New Yorkers working to raise awareness about one local woman who has been waiting four years for an organ transplant.
27-year-old Brianna DiGiacomo is in dire need of a new kidney, after medical complications caused her first transplant to stop working. She needs a donor with blood type O+ or O-.
"I mean, I've been sick my whole life," Bri told 2 On Your Side. "So it's kind of hard, it's kind of my normal. I've just kind of dealt with it.
But within the last four years there's a lot of things that people don't see and how awful it really gets, and it's sometimes hard to hang on."
A fundraiser and awareness event was held Friday night in her honor at Coyote Café in Hamburg. The restaurant offered a basket raffle, food and drink tickets, and live music. 100 percent of the proceeds will go toward Brianna's ongoing medical care.
Bri said, "Everyone really came together from the community, and has donated a lot of time, effort, and things for me, and I'm very grateful for that."
Brianna used to be an employee of the restaurant before she got too sick to keep working. She says once she feels better, she wants to return to work there.
"We're like a family here," Bri said.
"Yep, we are a family," added Jeff Giovino, Brianna's former boss and owner of Coyote Café.
Coyote Café is also selling T-shirts to support Brianna for $20 a piece. The shirts say "Bri needs a kidney" with Erie County Medical Center's phone number on the back.
"The whole message is just to get Bri a kidney," Jeff said during Friday's event. "So she can have her life back, you know? She's on dialysis four times a week and then she can't move for the next day, so it isn't a way to live."
ONE8FIFTY Partners in Transplant participated in Friday night's event by providing information on living organ donation, paired sharing or kidney exchange, and how to become a donor. Event organizers also encouraged guests to get tested, to see if they are a match for organ donation.
New York State is last in the nation for registered organ donors per capita. According to experts, approximately 9,500 people in New York State need an organ transplant. Ninety percent of those people are waiting for a kidney, and 1,000 of them are expected to get too sick or die before they can receive a life saving transplant. Just one donor can save the lives of 8 people.
Jeff said, "It just seems like she's falling through the cracks."
Bri added, "It'll come, and it'll happen. Yeah."
If you are considering kidney donation, you can call ECMC at 716-898-5001 or visit their website by clicking here.
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