Longtime Village Employee Charles Fike Needs Kidney Donor
By Jackie Fike, Mother of Charles Fike
Oct. 19, 2016: You may know him. You may have seen him around Bronxville on his bicycle collecting cans and bottles for recycling or working at the Bronxville tennis courts in Dogwood Park.
His name is Charles Fike and he has had a summer job with the village doing tennis court maintenance for more than 20 years. When Charles was four, his family moved from Brooklyn to 2 Locust Lane in Bronxville, where they still reside.
Despite a disability, Charles has a high school diploma from Bronxville High School and leads an active and independent life. He is a contributing member of the family, keeping the lawn mowed, taking out the trash for recycling, and doing grocery shopping. He does his own laundry and prepares meals for himself.
Charles's passion is visiting water parks and amusement parks, both near and far. This summer he visited water parks in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. He also devotes much time to making aprons, tote bags, placemats, and other things out of recycled denim, which he sells online (with his mother’s help) and to friends and at his church’s Christmas fair.
In May of this year, Charles learned that he has polycystic kidney disease. This disease will cause his kidneys to fail sometime in the near future.
The best outcome for Charles is to find a live kidney donor before his kidneys fail. Charles has no siblings or other close relatives who could possibly be donors. Unrelated people have as good a chance to be a match as more distant relatives. An appeal has gone out to relatives, but it is important to reach out to as many people as possible.
So please consider whether you could donate a kidney. People can live long and healthy lives with only one kidney. A donation of a kidney is something only you can give--a gift of life.
To volunteer to be a live kidney donor, there are two steps. First, you would sign onto the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital website (directions below). On the website is a medical questionnaire to fill out online to see if you would be acceptable medically. Then you would be sent a kit for a blood test to see if you are a match.
There would be no costs to you either for the blood test or any of the medical expenses associated with the transplant surgery. If you are a match, you would undergo an extensive medical examination to make sure you are healthy enough for the surgery.
The surgery would be done in New York City, but there would be no costs for travel and lodging expenses, should you need to travel. The only cost to you would be one kidney and 3 to 4 weeks for the evaluation and surgery. There is a wealth of information on the website to tell you more about donating a kidney.
To get to the correct NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital website, go to Google and type in "kidney transplant Columbia University Department of Surgery." Scroll down to find a section on the right side of the screen titled "Living Kidney Donation."
Click on "Complete an Online Living Donor Evaluation" and fill in all the information requested. You will be asked the recipient’s name and date of birth. Fill in Charles Thomas Fike, 11/02/1970.
No words can express my gratitude for your consideration. I am available at any time to discuss or answer any questions you might have, and I would be glad to hear from anyone who decides they would like to offer to be a donor.
Just email
Pictured here: Charles Fike at the Bronxville tennis courts.
Photo by Jackie Fike
