Prisoner wants to donate kidney to uncle

But the state Department of Prisons is not sure what to do about the request of 38-year-old Gene Zaritsky.

"Nobody's ever asked before," said John Slansky, Department of Prisons assistant director. "There's just too many unanswered questions. This would be a precedent-setting event."

Slansky said a physician has been asked to review the proposal to see how feasible it is. A decision, he said, could be made within a few days.

Zaritsky, who was sentenced to life for sexual assault in Humboldt County in 1993, has asked state officials if he can donate a kidney to an uncle whose own kidneys failed two months ago. A person can survive on one kidney but not for long with none.

Faye Moody of Las Vegas said her son got the idea after awaking from a dream in which he was told, "You're a match."

"At first, he couldn't figure out what it meant or what it was," she said of her son, who she said has become more religious in prison, "without being a fanatic."

"Then he happened to think that his uncle needed a kidney and that somebody was trying to tell him that he was a match," she said.

The kidney recipient would be Sheldon Zaritsky, a 52-year-old businessman from Beaumont, Calif., who has diabetes and is on dialysis three hours a day, three days a week.

"My kidneys are failed, and I'm either in need of a kidney, or I would have to stay on dialysis indefinitely," Sheldon Zaritsky said. "If I don't get a donor, I'm on dialysis for the rest of my life. And from what I've observed of other patients on dialysis, I think it severely shortens that life."

Mooday said her son was convicted after robbing a bank and then forcing a woman to perform oral sex on him. He has served more than five years and is eligible for parole Nov. 1, 2000.

She said she only began talking to him within the last year. She said his announcement two weeks ago that he wanted to help his uncle was unexpected.

"The driving force behind this is him wanting to do this for Sheldon. Just for a life," Moody said. "To be honest, he really surprised us all."

Whether Gene Zaritsky's kidney is a medical match for his uncle - lessening the chance of bodily rejection - will not be known without extensive medical tests.

Slansky said that if such tests were performed, the Department of Prisons would have to send two armed guards with Zaritsky. The expense is one of the factors being considered.

However, Moody said the families are willing to pay.

Slansky said prison officials also are examining the potential medical costs after a transplant is performed. They are concerned that Gene Zaritsky could come down with the same kidney problem suffered by his uncle and father and have only one kidney remaining.

Sheldon Zaritsky acknowledged the huge risk his nephew is taking and admitted that he feels "funny" about it.

"It's like I'm deleting his life for mine," the California businessman said. "He's being very brave about it. He's got his life to live, too."

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