Robert Vander Hooning knows something about giving back to others. He passed out on New Year’s Eve in 2022, his blood pressure was in the 200s and he did not know he was close to death with kidney disease until he woke up in a hospital two days later.
Living in Wheaton and undergoing dialysis, Vander Hooning said he was not the person he was as an educator and productive member of the business community. He got some encouragement from his daughter.
“My daughter said, ‘Dad, we’ve got to get you a kidney,’” Vander Hooning said. “We started Kidney4Dad.com. We built a marketing campaign. We had yard signs and bumper stickers. You name it, we had it.”
Kidney4Dad.com produced a donor, and Vander Hooning, 69, regained his strength and now designs campaigns to help other people in need of a kidney transplant find a suitable donor.
Vander Hooning was one of six transplant recipients — four kidney and two liver — who observed Donate Life Month on Wednesday at the Zion-Bernton Public Library, sharing their stories and letting people know how to register as a transplant donor.
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Organized by Debby Ramsey, 70, of Zion — Illinois’ longest-surviving kidney transplant patient at 41 years — she and her partners handed out literature and snacks to raise awareness of the need for organ donors and support for patients.
Since Ramsey retired after selling her more than 100-year-old family business, Aiuppy Feed Store, over five years ago, she said she spends a lot of time making people aware of the need for organ donors. She was able to reserve a table at the library and did it.
“I do want to spread the word about organ donation,” she said. “It’s a passion of mine. I’m very blessed to have had 41 years. Without a donor, there’s no transplant. It’s Donate Life Month, and I make sure people know about how to register to be an organ donor.”
Ramsey said people who want to be organ donors can register at LifeGoesOn.com, the state’s organ and tissue donor registry, or do it at any of the state’s driver services facilities. Donors must be at least 16 years old.
Approximately 4,000 people in Illinois are on the transplant list, according to information from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office. Of those, 300 die waiting for a transplant each year. A single donor can improve the lives of 25 people.
Some kidney recipients, like Vander Hooning, receive a kidney — everyone has two and can live with one — from a living donor. Ramsey said that if a living donor has the need for a kidney later in life, there is a benefit.
“They go to the top of the list,” Ramsey said.
As Vander Hooning’s search for a kidney continued, 42 people responded submitting to evaluation and 18 started medical testing. On Jan. 19, 2025, he had his donor. On Dec. 12, he had the operation.
“He was 21 and a college senior,” Vander Hooning said. “He asked if I could wait until he graduated, got married and started his job.”
While Vander Hooning was undergoing treatment, he said he was not the person he was as an educator and successful member of the business community. He regained his strength quickly after his operation.
“I was not at the top of my game. I had four months off and (then) I was ready to go,” Vander Hooning said. “I devoted myself to the program,” he added, referring to helping people find donors through Kidny4.org, which currently has six clients.
Carlo Pierandsozzi of Richton Park said he was a recovering drug addict who was clean since 2010, when he was diagnosed with liver cancer and needed a transplant. He received it on June 13, 2014.
Pierandsozzi, 73, said each donor recipient must have a caregiver. He arranged for his sister to be his when the time came. As he was waiting, they were both taking care of other family members. Then he got the call.
“In 10 minutes, she was there,” he said.
Since he recovered, Pierandsozzi has also become a mentor to people waiting for the phone call and then going through recovery. That is how he met Michael Wolin of Highland Park. Wolin said his liver disease was genetic.
“I was scared,” Wolin said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. He was such a help to me. I was told (the wait) could be a couple of years or a couple of weeks.”
For Steve Rosenzweig of Lincolnshire, his wait for a new kidney was mandatory. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2024. He had to be cancer-free for two years before he was eligible for a transplant.
“I got on every list I could,” Rosenzweig said. “I got a call from Northwestern, and they said, ‘ See you at 4:30.’ I was in the middle of selling my home. My wife was my caregiver. Four days later, we moved into our (new) home.”
Donald Grass of Lombard was getting ready for foot surgery in 2016 when tests revealed his kidneys were only working at 50%. He waited several years before taking the condition seriously enough in 2025 when he placed himself on wait lists at several hospitals. He had his transplant in June, 2025.