An Army veteran and former emergency services technician will receive the lifesaving kidney he needs next week thanks in part to a quick conversation he had with a barista at the Starbucks he frequents every morning on his way to work. Vince Villano, 41, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease 11 years ago, and recently began weekly dialysis treatment at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Washington, which is something he has been dreading since his diagnosis.
But he won’t be on dialysis for long, as he is scheduled to receive a kidney from Justin McNeil, a fellow Army veteran who happens to be married to Nicole McNeil, the barista who prepares Villano’s coffee every morning. Nicole McNeil said in a news release posted to the Starbucks website that she noticed Villano seemed upset while she took his order one morning two years ago.
The two spoke for a few minutes and he told her about the kidney disease that had plagued his family for decades, and how his future was now deemed uncertain because of it. He was on a wait list but knew it could be years before he found a match.
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