Golf outing to aid McCandless man needing kidney

George “Alex” Reed of McCandless was fortunate to have a successful living-donor kidney transplant in 2015, but the organ is now failing, and the 33-year-old Reed is searching for another living donor.

His friends and family are hoping that a golf fundraiser Match Made on the Green on Aug. 6, at the Quicksilver Golf Club in Midway, Washington County, will help spread the word to possible donors while raising money for kidney foundations.

Reed spends four hours a day, four days a week on at-home dialysis. The 2008 North Allegheny graduate just wants to go back to living a normal life.

“I want to be able to go visit friends, traveling and go bowling.”

His friends say he’s not one to complain, Reed said it was hard sitting in one spot “for four hours every day.”

Just two weeks after graduating from Penn State Altoona in 2013, where he played baseball, he started experiencing extremely high blood pressure for reasons still unknown, causing major health issues.

“My kidneys were in complete renal failure,” he said.

Fortunately, he found a match through a baseball teammate’s father and received a successful transplant in 2015.

That kidney is now failing. So friends put together Match Made on the Green. Registration begins at 7 a.m. with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Golfers should register by July 27. The format is a four-person scramble, and the registration fee is $500 per team. Or $125 per golfer.

Melissa Solar, whose husband went to high school and college with Reed, is helping organize the event.

“When his kidneys began to fail again we saw him less and less,” said Solar, of Franklin Park.

“He isn’t one to complain or ask for help, and he is somehow always in good spirits. You’d never know what he was going through. We all wanted to do whatever we could to help. We came up with the idea of a golf outing to get the word out that a local Pittsburgh-er is in need of help,” she said.

Reed, who’s on the donor list at UPMC Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, has been working at his dad’s insurance company, Erie Insurance George A. Reed Agency. But that is now on pause.

His mother Bobbie Reed said UPMC participates in the Paired Exchange Program where if Reed would get a donor who didn’t match his blood type and another person had a donor that didn’t match him or her, the kidneys would be exchanged and both people would get their life-saving transplant.

When people are evaluated to donate a kidney and then donate, all medical costs are covered entirely by her son’s insurance, said Bobbie Reed, of McCandless. Resources from other sources, including the American Kidney Fund or Kidney Solutions, are available to potential donors to cover expenses, such as lost wages, travel, and housing.

Kidneys from living donors result in more successful outcomes.

“The kidney comes from a healthy donor, and patients can be transplanted sooner, while they’re healthier. It truly is the better option for transplantation for those with end-stage renal disease,” said Dr. Amit Tevar, surgical director at UPMC Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program.

Tevar said potential donors undergo testing to ensure there aren’t any issues that would compromise their own health. Donors usually spend a few days in the hospital after surgery and recover fully in about six weeks.

Every 10 minutes another person in the United States is added to the transplant waiting list. And more than 88,900 people were on the kidney transplant waiting list as of January 2023, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

All proceeds from the golf fundraiser will go toward the Team Fishguy Transplant Foundation, American Association of Kidney Patients, American Kidney Fund, the National Kidney Foundation, and Kidney Solutions, Solar said.

Prizes will be awarded for the longest putt, longest drive and closest to the pin. A silent auction of a variety of items will be conducted. The entry fee includes breakfast, lunch at the turn, beer and non-alcoholic drinks on the course and a buffet dinner.

Donate or sign up by texting REED to 53555. Or visit givebutter.com/Swing4Reed. Information also can be found on Facebook, Instagram or by calling 412-329-8777, Solar said.

The National Kidney Foundation is honoring Reed and others in need of a kidney at the July 16 Pirate’s game, according to foundation spokeswoman Sandra Camacho.

Reed’s mother wants people to ask their legislators to support legislation to create U.S. Living Donor Protection Act.

The measure would prohibit “certain insurance carriers from discriminating against, and provides other protections for, living organ donors.”

It was introduced in the U.S. Senate in April and is before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.