Longtime CNN staffer Richard Roth is in need of a kidney and he sent this message out:
I first walked into CNN New York on April 1, 1980. CNN was in the lobby of World Trade Center Tower 1. And I was there when it fell. I am the only CNN original employee remaining. There are too many of y ou to name at this time. You are probably thinking now I am about to leave CNN. I don’t want to! In fact I don’t want to leave this planet. At the risk of burying the lead…I write to say I need your help. Urgently. To save my life. Please help me. I recognize the gravity of the situation-for me and anyone who comes to my rescue. After being on a transplant waiting list 23 years ago, I received a kidney from a deceased donor. Unfortunately the waiting list today is so much longer, it would be years before I might be eligible for another. A healthy individual, however, can safely donate one of their two kidneys and live a perfectly normal and healthy life post-transplant. That is why I’m asking for your help. My valiant kidney is now rapidly dying inside me. That kidney was donated anonymously by a deceased individual who left behind a wife and two young girls. I feel I have let them down. Keeping that kidney for 23 years exceeded all expectations I am told .The rate of failure in that organ is stunning in its speed of decline. Faster than the Mets falling out of first place. I need an organ donation soon. Jeff Zucker has graciously allowed me to send this note. 23 years ago I cbear to ask people for help. With that hesitancy, I ended up on the dreadful dialysis machine. 4 and a half hours on the machine three times a week. It’s no life at all and your body deteriorates. I have PKD, a kidney disease. It wiped out my mother’s side of the family. My brother (HBO man) got a transplant from a friend. The donor is doing fine and living it up. Dialysis is certain again for me if I can’t find a donor. I realize some of you have lost friends to Covid or battle your own serious health issues. I can only tell you my story. This is not a desperate last chance attempt to do a live shot. Transplantation has improved over the years. Blood type is not as important for a match. It takes a special kind of person to keep another human being alive. It doesn’t matter that we may not know each other right now. Many of you have lamented not working with me during your career. Here is that chance. You can call yourself a producer if you want. Savior sounds better. I will follow up shortly to provide next steps. Between my medical insurance and per diems I have collected, you will not spend a dime. Please spread this appeal to your friends/family or anyone you can think of. Warnings: Your life may change as people will be calling you a hero. And when I see you in a hospital reunion room after the operation, I may not stop crying. Thank you for reading this note..Richard
