A longtime King Kekaulike High School custodian received life-changing news last year — his kidney was failing.
Wence Jarnesky, 59, of Pukalani is now in stage 5 kidney failure and in need of an organ transplant. While he’s found a prospective donor — his half-brother Joey — the operation is costly, and the family is seeking the community’s help.
“We have hope,” his mother Janet Fernandez, 80, said via phone on Wednesday. “Hopefully it can be done. I alone can’t distribute that much funding.
“I hope it goes well, and I believe he is still young and has a life to live,” she added.
Fernandez said that Jarnesky called his family one day, and “the next thing we know he was in the hospital for a few weeks.”
For 23 years, Jarnesky has been working in Kekaulike’s maintenance department, until last year when he received the news from his doctor that his kidney was failing. Fernandez said that her son eventually opted for a home dialysis.
Marie Souza, Fernandez’s sister, said she is out to save her nephew’s life by spreading awareness of the situation.
“He needs to raise a lot of money for medical expenses, hospital stay and transportation,” Souza said in an email to The Maui News. “I want to save his life.”
The family said that donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 5464, Hilo, HI 96720. Checks can be made payable to Ocean Kapoi, the daughter of Jarnesky’s girlfriend, and/or deposited to a First Hawaiian Bank with the account number 20812710.
Kapoi also set up a GoFundMe, which can be viewed at www.gofundme.com/f/udzjy-financial-help-for-my-dad.
“I know that it is hard times for everybody right now but I’m asking if anyone could please help in any way,” Kapoi said in the post.
* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.
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