USF DONS
Giarratano gives his father the ultimate gift

A remarkable gift of life, transferred from son to father. Pictured above, USF baseball coach Nino Giarratano and father Mickey.

Some collegiate baseball coaches spend the off-season coaching summer ball. Others run camps. All recruit, and most take some vacation time. USF coach Nino Giarratano will spend his time off recovering from surgery he underwent to give his father a kidney.

On July 11, Giarratano checked into the Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver for his first-ever procedure, which required an overnight stay. He was wheeled into the operating room at noon and, two hours later, doctors took his kidney next door and began surgery on his father, Mickey.

In early September 2010, Mickey had gone in for what he thought was routine gallbladder surgery. Following the surgery, his kidneys suddenly failed. Doctors started him on dialysis, hoping that would help his kidneys recover. Days went by, then weeks, and still no change.

A routine surgery turned into a 40-night stay. A short-term solution turned into a life sentence. Now, three times a week, Mickey reports to the hospital for a five-hour dialysis treatment.

"It really hit me when my dad got sick," Nino said. "He has always been healthy and worked so hard his entire life, so when he got sick I immediately thought, What can I do to help?"

By Christmas, Nino knew he had a solution. He and his family traveled home to Pueblo, as they always do, and he asked his mother and father to sit down with him in the living room. Nino sat facing his parents, looked his father in the eye and said, "I'm your donor. I want to be the one to give you a kidney, Dad."

His parents both broke down in tears. They asked him over and over, "Are you sure?"

"I was not about to ask my sons or daughter for a kidney, but Nino always seems to think of the other person first," Mickey said. "I cried for two days after he told me what he wanted to do. I know he loves me so much and that's why he did it."

The USF baseball season was in full swing, but Nino still found time to slip away to the hospital for various testing. He didn't say a word to anyone — including his wife, Brenda, daughter Bianca and son Nico — for quite some time.

Both made it out of surgery in good shape. Nino will spend two days in the hospital and then another week in the Denver area before he is cleared to travel back to San Francisco. He will be limited for a period of about six weeks before he can resume normal activities.

Mickey is told he will spend a week in the hospital and then up to another month in the Denver area for daily checkups. After that he is free to pick up where he left off in September. He's dreaming about taking Josephine to Hawaii, walking into a Colorado Rockies game and buying the biggest hot dog he can find — and someday watching his son take the Dons to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.