This entire column arose from an email from Cindy Davis Glueck ’93: “Stephen Andrzejewski recently returned to Hanover for a very special mission—to save the life of a fellow Dartmouth alum (me). I was in end-stage renal disease and enduring 11 hours of daily peritoneal dialysis sessions. He generously donated his left kidney to me, thus restoring me to excellent health. Within two weeks of the surgery Steve was back to running. Thank you, Steve! Live donors rock!” 


I had a great conversation with Steve and learned how this all came about. 


Steve and Cindy were both runners at Dartmouth (Steve met his wife, Katie Stiff ’93, through the same network of friends). The two re-connected a few years ago at an alumni event in Hanover for members of the track and cross-country teams. Then in September 2014 Cindy started using Facebook to find a kidney donor. Steve said he read about her situation with sympathy, but didn’t think he could help—until she posted her blood type, O positive, the same as his. He started researching the process of kidney donation (searching online and calling friends who had been through it) “and I realized it’s really not a big deal,” he said. “So I thought, ‘There are really no excuses any more.’ ” He joined the transplant group at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.


He didn’t tell Cindy his plan until he had talked it through with his wife and fully committed. In early December 2014 Steve and Cindy determined a date on which they’d both have their blood tested, because the antigens and antibodies had to match. “It turns out the blood type didn’t matter as much—she’s a universal recipient,” he said. Still at home in North Carolina Steve then underwent several tests over the course of several weeks. Their compatibility and his good health garnered them the green light and they scheduled the surgery for February 25, 2015. 


The weekend before that Steve and Katie flew up to Hanover and visited Cindy at home (her husband is a chemistry professor at the College). “If ever I had any doubts, they disappeared as soon as I saw her four kids,” he said. He and Katie also had dinner with Lou Bregou and Jill Blumberg at Jesse’s (Lou and Cindy both coach cross country and their kids participate).


The procedure went well and Steve stayed at Dartmouth-Hitchcock for three nights (some donors stay just one, but his painkillers disagreed with him). He and Katie spent a few more days at the Six South Street hotel, enjoying Hanover, where it was 23 below zero at one point, and flew home six days after the operation. A week after that he started running again.


“I want people to know how easy it is,” he said. He experienced some low energy (and inconvenience to his family), but “that’s a small price to pay.” There are more than 100,000 people on the kidney donation waiting list, he added.


“You wouldn’t believe the outpouring of well-wishes I’ve gotten,” he said. Before he left Hanover a stranger recognized him from Facebook photos of him and Cindy in their hospital gowns.


Steve and Katie live outside Raleigh, North Carolina, and have four children (11, 9, 7 and 7) who are into soccer, tae kwon do and swimming. He works at home as a software engineer. “I’m now running 15 to 20 miles a week,” he said.


—Kelly Shriver Kolln, 3900 Cottage Grove Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403; (319) 533-4326; news@dartmouth92.org