A cancer survivor is going big in Times Square in hopes of getting a kidney. Stacey Bell reports.
Five years ago, Marc Weiner needed a kidney.
The Long Island man had been diagnosed with "aggressive" bladder cancer in 2015 that eventually spread to both of his kidneys. Doctors removed his kidneys and bladder to eliminate the cancer, but that forced him to undergo “debilitating dialysis three times every week,” he detailed on his site, www.HelpMarcFindAKidney.com.
He needed a kidney donation to turn things around. The Great Neck man used a surprising tactic to seek help: a billboard in Times Square.
Displayed several stories high near the TKTS staircase, a billboard bearing Weiner's photo and his URL caught attention and headlines. The billboard was donated to him by a friend.
“Receiving a kidney transplant would put my life on a positive path,” he wrote in 2018. “I’d be healthy, could resume work and activities, I could spend more time with family and friends.”
The unusual ploy appeared to work. The NY Post reports the 58-year-old finally received a kidney transplant last week.
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“That billboard,” Weiner told the Post, “that was clearly, unequivocally, a lifesaver.”
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Among hundreds of applicants in the wake of the billboard, retired NYPD Det. Michael Lollo came forward to make a kidney donation. Although he was not a match for Weiner, his donation to a stranger reportedly allowed Lollo to get Weiner in line to receive a kidney from another donor.
Weiner got the good news this spring: there was a match. The kidney came from a 21-year-old out of state donor, which was flown to a Manhattan hospital for Weiner's operation last week.
“Did I ever have any doubt? No, I really didn’t,” he told the Post. “I just knew that I had to take it one day at a time.”
