It started with a slice of pizza and led to a lifesaving surgery.
Theo Alano received the shock of a lifetime when he learned he was in end-stage kidney failure after going to the hospital for an unrelated issue.
“I was in denial. I was like, ‘where did this come from?’ Because it came so quickly, and I had no issues prior to when I figured it out,” Alano told “Good Morning America.”
As his condition quickly declined, it became clear that his best chance at survival would be to find a kidney donor.
“I ended up in the hospital a second time where I actually, I almost passed away,” Alano said. “I was about an hour away from dying.”
Unfortunately, the chances of quickly finding a donor were bleak – the average waitlist time in New York was between five to seven years. And with no qualifying family members, Alano decided to turn to his community on social media, and made an Instagram post asking for help.
“I knew I had to open myself up to help and be a little bit vulnerable and reach out to as many people as I could to try to find a solution for this,” he recalled.
And while Alano said “there were quite a few times” when he thought the pursuit might be hopeless, he explained that “part of why I’ve been wanting to fight to get this kidney was – I’m getting a little emotional about it every time I tell the story – but I had so many people rallying behind me that it wasn’t even just for myself, I really wanted to do it for everyone around me who put [in] all this effort to try to save my life.”
One of those people was Alano’s friend, Mark Iacono, the owner of Lucali, the beloved Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn brick-oven pizzeria that’s frequented by locals and A-list celebrities alike, including Jay Z and Taylor Swift.
With 249,000 Instagram followers, Iacono shared Alano’s post. Within 24 hours, it caught the attention of Rusty Rastello, a hospitality professional and pizza lover.
“First, I thought about my uncle, who was like a father to me growing up. And he actually had donated a kidney to his brother,” Rastello told “GMA.” “And then I had this idea about myself, that if I was faced with the idea of a burning building, that I would run inside to help save somebody.”
Rastello continued: “The reality is it’s really stupid, and you could potentially lose your own life trying to help somebody. But then here’s this thing that has a really great success rate, really great survival rate – why wouldn’t I do this?”
Rastello said that after doing some research and consulting his fiancée for advice, her support was “exactly what I needed to hear.”
“She told me that if I asked my doctor, they would advise me to save my kidney for somebody that I love – but if everyone did that, then no one would get help,” Rastello said of the initial reasoning. “So I reached out to Theo and just said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if I can qualify, but I just want to let you know that there’s someone out there that’s, you know, throwing their name in the hat for you.'”
Reflecting on that initial phone call, Alano said Rastello “had to go through the process of getting tested for approval, so we were doing parallel testing at the same time. And then when I got the news from Rusty, I actually remember I collapsed on the street – I couldn’t believe it.”
Rastello was a perfect match for Alano, and the kidney transplant surgery was a success. Now both men have gained a lifelong friend in one another – all thanks to the power of pizza.
“The first time that I saw Theo, the light had come back to his eyes and the color came back to his face immediately. So less than 12 hours later, I mean, he was a totally different person,” Rastello recalled. “It was it was pretty wild to witness.”
“There are two things good that come out of here: my pizza and this guy,” said Mark Iacono, the famed pizzeria owner who helped make the connection, referring to Rastello. “It’s pretty amazing what he did. It’s also nice to see something good come out of social media.”
“Your talent and your pizza has created a platform and I think there’s a responsibility that comes with that,” Rastello told Iacono. “And I think that you met the moment and used your platform to help save Theo’s life.”
Iacono added with a laugh, “if you need a kidney, DM me.”
