Feature Article

From St. Norbert College Magazine

Everyone should be so fortunate to have a friend as giving as Dot Giovannini. Darin Schumacher has her to thank for his life.

By Mike Dauplaise

Dot Giovannini was president of the Green Bay (Wis.) ADFED in 2000 when she asked a question that would change her life and that of her vice president forever.

At a meeting of the local advertising professional organization, Giovannini noticed that Darin Schumacher wasn’t looking well. She didn't know it at the time, but Schumacher had never been well and his health was deteriorating rapidly due to the effects of spina bifida, a birth disorder that prevents the proper closure of the spinal cord.

Another ADFED board member informed Dot of Darin's condition, and that he and his new bride, Tia, had to postpone a planned honeymoon trip because his kidneys weren't working properly. In fact, one of them wasn't working at all and he was beginning dialysis treatments.

"That led to a conversation with Darin, and I asked him what was involved with having a test to see if I would be a compatible kidney donor," says Dot, who is the Creative Manager at American Medical Security in Green Bay. "I went and did the blood draw, and found out I was a match. I was a little floored. I thought, ‘Oh my God!' "

Dot's father, retired St. Norbert College communications professor Dan Giovannini, advised her to sleep on that news before making her decision on whether or not to actually volunteer for the transplant procedure. Along with the medical issues and gut-check questions that Dot needed to answer, the emotional stress of her mother Kathy's difficult death from cancer two years earlier weighed heavily on her mind.

"As fresh as that was, it was the deciding factor for me," Dot explains. "I felt that if I had the opportunity to keep somebody from suffering like that, I had to do it. Darin was 26 years old at the time, and he already had had 25 surgeries."

Dot consulted with her father, asking him what her mother would think of the situation, with her brothers Peter and Tony, and even with Fr. Gerry Meehan at the college.

"I thought it was a wonderful decision for her to make," Fr. Meehan says. "It was not untypical of her life attitude and her commitment to people."

Meanwhile, Darin and Tia sat on pins and needles for about two weeks, waiting to hear from Dot. Other people had offered to take the blood test as well, but whether or not anyone was truly serious about going through with a transplant was unknown.

"Tia and I were both very anxious to find out what the results of Dot's test were,"” recalls Darin, who is an account executive at The Karma Group in Green Bay. "Time went by very slowly. But when we got that call, it was the best Easter present anyone ever had."

The transplant operation took place on June 29, 2000, at University Hospital in Madison, and Darin has been healthy ever since, save for two short periods when doctors worked to narrow down the correct medicines and dosages. He can eat and drink whatever he wants now, with only a few exceptions, and no more dialysis.

"I am very fortunate," he states. "I believe in the Catholic faith, and this proves to me that someone’s up there, watching out for me. There's a reason for me to be here, and my time just wasn’t up yet."

Dot, Darin and Tia share a special friendship now, and they jokingly refer to his current ADFED presidency and Dot's position as past president as the "renal ticket."

"I think my mom is proud of me. If she would have been here, she would’ve told me to do it," Dot says. "I tell people to do what your heart tells you to do. If it means putting that orange sticker on your driver’s license, do that, but let your family members know, in case you don’t have control over that situation."

*http://www.mikedauplaise.com/featurearticleexample