ST. CHARLES – Kathy Skowron has always known her son, Craig, would need a kidney transplant.
As an infant, he was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder affecting about 600,000 people in the United States that can result in reduced kidney function and kidney failure.
His mother had hoped to give him one of her kidneys – that's what her husband did for their daughter 15 years ago – but kidney stones forever prevent her from doing so, she said.
More than 30 other people have volunteered to donate a kidney to the 33-year-old St. Charles native, his mother said.
But, she said, each potential donor has been disqualified for various reasons.
The family hopes a fundraiser for the Craig Skowron Hope Foundation at the Village Squire in South Elgin this week will move him closer to a transplant.
"Hopefully we'll get a living donor," Kathy Skowron said.
Her son has been waiting for a new kidney for about two years, she said.
Finding a living donor is better for her son because the chance of the organ being accepted is higher and because he is still relatively healthy – another factor that will help his body accept a new kidney, she said.
According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, nearly 90,000 people were on the kidney transplant list Monday.
Overall, a person is added to an organ donor waiting list every 11 minutes and an average of 20 people die daily waiting for transplants, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The average wait for a kidney can be 5-7 years, according to the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois.
Craig Skowron, meanwhile, spends much of his time receiving dialysis treatments.
The dialysis drains the energy he once used toward playing soccer, baseball and basketball, his mother said.
She noted his health also makes it difficult for him to find a job; he's a chef by trade.
"His life is on hold," she said.
The support he has already received from friends and family has uplifted him, Kathy Skowron said.
She hopes those who don't know him will see the fundraiser as an opportunity to give to others.
This well-known quote sums it up, she said: "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."
Support the Craig Skowron Hope Foundation
Where: The Village Squire, 480 Randall Road, South Elgin.
When: 5-10 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. to close Thursday.
How: Present the fundraiser flyer to your server to donate 15 percent of your bill to the Hope Foundation.
Other ways to help: Go to any Fifth Third Bank to deposit a check to the foundation or send a check payable to the Craig Skowron Hope Foundation to Fifth Third Bank, 700 S. Randall Road, St. Charles, IL 60174.
Email kidney4craig@yahoo.com.