By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – How far would you go if you needed a new kidney? A Niagara County man purchased billboard advertising for a donor.
A billboard that stands high above the southbound I-190 in Buffalo reads, "I need a kidney -- can you help" followed by a cell phone number. Richard Miller, 52, of Lockport bought the billboard ad two weeks ago for $600. He says he learned that a man from Texas advertised for a new liver and received a donor match in two weeks. Miller's kidneys suffered damage from diabetes and open-heart surgery. He undergoes dialysis treatments three times a week -- a long and sometimes uncomfortable process.
"Right now, they are using a catheter on me, instead of my arm. But when they us my arm, it is painful," Miller said. "They use a needle and sometimes they don't stick them in right and have to try again. The needles are bad."
Unfortunately, no one in Miller's family is a match for a new kidney, so he opted for the billboard.
"I'm on the kidney transplant list. I am type "O." That's the longest list. And they tell me at the hospital that they only have so many kidneys available a year, usually around 100 per hospital," Miller said. "So it is a long wait sometimes."
Even though Miller remains on the list for a new kidney, he is now receiving calls from concerned citizens. Miller says he has heard from almost 40 people willing to offer their kidney.
"I've had a couple of calls from Virginia, Central New York and one from the Catskills," Miller said.
Miller says he even received a call from as far away as Los Angles because of national news coverage about his billboard. He is working with a kidney coordinator. So far, Miller says there is a woman who might be a potential match.