Bucks County man in need of kidney transplant

Joe Fitch's doctors started him on dialysis three days a week for several hours a day, where machines remove and clean his blood. It keeps him alive until he gets a new kidney.

LANGHORNE, Pa. - A Bucks County man in kidney failure is in desperate need of a transplant.

Joe Fitch, 55. of Langhorne, knew he had kidney problems for years. It was manageable but last year he received some pretty grim news.

"Out of the blue, you’re in Stage 4 kidney failure and your kidney function is near 15%," he said.

Joe remembers what happened right before the diagnosis. He and his fiancée Wendy had been hiking and he wasn’t feeling well.

"We were out in the Catskills in the middle of nowhere. He was struggling and he said I don’t think I’m gonna get out of here," Wendy Cornell said.

Joe had signs his kidneys weren’t doing their job of clearing toxins from his body.

"He got up one morning he said look at my legs. He pulled up his pant legs his feet and legs were huge. We just sat there and cried," Wendy explained.

Joe’s doctors started him on dialysis three days a week for several hours a day, where machines remove and clean his blood. It keeps him alive until he gets a new kidney. He’s on the national recipient list so are nearly 100,000 others waiting for a kidney from a deceased donor.

Wendy, Joe and his children are trying to harness the power of social media and other methods, decals on family cars, posters in local businesses, anything to find a donor soon.

If need a kidney or are considering donation visit https://www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors. To help Joe, please email fitchjoseph635@gmail.com or call 215-292-4727.