Support Steve Recchia’s Kidney Transplant Journey

Hello friends, family, and kind readers,

I’m reaching out to ask for help while my family and I do everything we can to give my dad a second chance at life.

Our story begins in 2016, when my dad, Stephen Recchia, was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease. He was the primary earner in our family, but due to his illness he was forced to sell his business and go on disability. My amazing mom, Nancy, has been working full time to support my parents ever since while also being my dad’s sole caregiver.

Unfortunately, his kidney function declined rapidly, progressing to complete kidney failure (End Stage Renal Disease) in 2019. This meant he has needed over 12 hours of dialysis each week to survive.

Dialysis is grueling and takes a significant toll on the body, causing my dad to become progressively more ill - battling numerous surgeries, health complications, and developing more chronic conditions including heart disease, diabetes, peripheral arterial disease, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and even multiple amputations to his foot.

Several family members applied to be living donors for my dad, but unfortunately were denied each time for one reason or another. This meant the only option was for my dad to get on the kidney transplant list in hopes of getting a kidney from a deceased donor.

For 5 years, we fought tirelessly to get my dad on the list with multiple hospitals, but kept hitting one roadblock after another due to how nearly impossible it is to stay healthy enough to receive a transplant while your body deteriorates from the dialysis.

After many setbacks, he finally became active on the list in early 2024. In May of that year, we received the best news—they had a kidney for him. It was the most incredible news we could have gotten, but it was also a great deal harder than we ever could have imagined or prepared for. The transplant surgery was challenging and had complications, which led to him getting admitted to the ICU. We feared we might lose him, but he’s such a fighter and the strongest, most resilient person I know, and he pulled through.

Unfortunately, the kidney did not work initially, and the doctors kept saying that it just needed time. That my dad had what was called a "sleepy kidney", but in time it should wake up and start working. It never did, and my dad ended up being one of less than 5% of failed kidney transplants. This was truly devastating, and as a family it took us a long time to bounce back emotionally and find hope again that this wasn’t the end. This 9 year journey to save my dad has been full of countless appointments with so many doctors, procedures, surgeries, grueling dialysis days, days of hope that were often crushed not long after. I truly have no words for how hard this has been on all of us, but we refused to give up.

We rejoined the fight and just two days ago, exactly 1 year since his last transplant, we received the call that my dad had a second chance — another kidney was available. So we embarked on this journey again full of hope and gratitude.

While his surgery went very well, the kidney is not functioning yet and my dad may need surgery again to fix a potential blood flow issue. We are remaining hopeful this is a temporary setback and the kidney will wake up and start working soon.

Just as we did last year, we are required to stay near the transplant hospital in Dallas for at least the next 6 weeks, doing check-ins with the transplant team 3x per week while they closely monitor his recovery. Also like last time, my mom and I are here with my dad every step of the way, which unfortunately also means significant financial setbacks.

This is where we need your help. To support my dad’s recovery, we’re asking for assistance with 6+ weeks of lost wages and hotel accommodations, medical expenses, hospital and hotel parking fees, and living expenses such as food and gas.

This journey has been filled with heartbreak, hope, and resilience. We are so grateful for every prayer, message, and ounce of support — it truly means the world to us.

Our goal is to raise $20,000 to help ease the financial burden so my parents can focus entirely on my dad’s recovery without the stress of money.

Thank you so much for your kindness, support, and generosity. Your help gives us hope and strength to face each new day.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Stephanie