South Jersey mayor still waiting for transplant

Remember that New Jersey mayor whose family used a billboard to find a kidney? If you need a refresher, check out my piece on the story here.

Even though they found a match, the surgery has yet to be performed. The reason, of course, is the coronavirus. Brigantine’s mayor, Andy Simpson, was supposed to get his new kidney on March 17th, but he told The Press of Atlantic City he got a phone call four days before the scheduled surgery telling him the procedure needed to be postponed.

Even though they had found the perfect match (it was a family friend, not someone who saw the billboard on the White Horse Pike), all elective surgeries at the hospital had been canceled, so the mayor has to wait. Since then, he’s been quarantining while undergoing dialysis and waiting for the pandemic to subside. He now has good news, however. he was notified that the surgery will probably go ahead sometime soon, telling the Press of Atlantic City that “Probably within three weeks I’ll have the kidney.”

He and the donor will both be quarantined (separately) before and after the surgery and will be tested for COVID-19. Simpson says he is trying to not get too excited until the procedure actually takes place, knowing as he does that things can always get derailed.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.