STATUS:
Received - Deceased Donor 1/2024
Deane Cirone joined the US Coast Guard in 1980 and served as a Machinery Technician 3rd Class on the WLM 546 White Lupine, a buoy tender out of Rockland, ME. He ended up working as an engineering officer for 18 months on the Matinicus Rock Light Station, an island ¾ mile long and only several hundred feet wide with arctic terns and puffins nesting all over. Deane’s job was to keep the lighthouse lit and the generator running. The station is 25 miles offshore and he would travel by boat or helicopter for duty, staying one month at the lighthouse and then two weeks off.
After his honorable discharge in 1984, Deane did odd jobs as a truck driver, newspaper printer, and lobster fisherman. He also got licensed in heating, plumbing, and propane gas. Even though he worked hard on being healthy, Deane needed to retire early for medical reasons when his health declined due to high blood pressure. He was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome in 2012. His numbers continue to decline, making it necessary for him to start dialysis in 2016. The dialysis leaves him fatigued and hooked up to machines for hours three days per week.
Deane and his wife Kim have been married for six years and have three children together. They also have a 3-year-old granddaughter and one grandson, both of whom he desires to see grow up. He loves restoring old clocks and watches and has quite a collection! He and Kim take short camping trips between his dialysis appointments and hope with a new kidney to go on longer ones - and he can’t wait to go out west!
Deane has enlisted the help of a Veteran's organization called DOVE Transplant which is helping in his outreach to find his life-saving kidney donor. DOVE will assist all prospective donors throughout the process and make sure they do not incur any out-of-pocket expenses related to the evaluation or surgery.
A healthy person can live a normal life with one kidney and save this Veteran's life! Please click on the link below if you would like to learn more OR call 551-449-8319.
Deane Cirone Jr
Coast Guard Veteran
