PITTSTON — Ben Tielle has been a volunteer with the Pittston Tomato Festival for many years; in fact, he is a strong advocate and believer in volunteerism and giving back to the community. For him, asking for help isn’t easy, so his fellow committee members from the Pittston Tomato Festival are asking for him.
Tielle, 52, of Pittston, is in the need of a kidney having been recently diagnosed with stage 4 chronic kidney disease stemming from a heart attack three years ago.
“It’s been three years now since I’ve had my heart attack,” Tielle said. “Everything seemed to go screwy with my kidneys after that. I had open-heart surgery and the triple-bypass all failed so I had to have three stents put in. The dye from the catheterization further affected my kidneys and they never rebounded and now I’m in fourth stage kidney failure.”
For most of Tielle’s life, he’s been a quiet person, sort of in the background but always aware of his surroundings. Asking for help is not something that comes easy to him.
For that reason, his fellow committee members from the Tomato Festival, a committee Tielle’s been a part of since 2001, is stepping in to help.
Tielle said he’s on the verge of being on kidney dialysis, but his Philadelphia nephrologist is not pushing for dialysis in fear he would be placed further down the transplant list.
“My doctor is trying to hold off on dialysis to see if I can find a living donor for the transplant,” Tielle said. “A deceased donor list wait is five to seven years.”
A live donor is preferred over a cadaver donor to save time when time is of the essences.
Tielle’s blood type is B-positive; therefore, he is looking for a live donor with that blood type, along with the donor being hypertensive and diabetic free.
“That’s all they require and the big misconception as I talk to people is, when someone is a donor that it’s not really always as ominous as it sounds,” Tielle said. “There’s no pain involved on the donor side and you can pretty much go back to work as soon as possible.”
This year, the Pittston Tomato Festival will be held Thursday, Aug. 15 through Sunday, Aug. 18 and all the committee people will be wearing the T-shirts in support of Tielle looking for a kidney donor.
“People close to Ben on the festival committee have been aware of his medical condition for a long time,” Lori Nocito, Tomato Festival chair, said. “During a recent meeting we all decided to help Ben, with his blessing, of course, to promote his need for a kidney.”
Nocito said with Tielle’s kidneys at stage 4 levels it was time to act to help a friend in dire straits.
If you attend this year’s festival, you’ll see festival volunteers wearing a T-shirt with information about helping Ben.
The front of the shirts will say, “B+ for Ben. Will you share your spare? Call 570-430-1924.”
“I’m very grateful to the committee for helping me, it means a great deal to me,” Tielle said.
