Oct 10, 2018 4 min read

Five days after kidney transplant surgery, Carl Cocciolone returned Wednesday to the place he has called work, and home, for decades – The Meadows racetrack.

It is his happy place and today he is enjoying a happy birthday.

Failed kidneys left Cocciolone, an owner and trainer, on dialysis for more than a year. His sister, Patty Alcorn, learned she was a match.

Last Friday morning, brother and sister underwent surgery at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. Not only does Cocciolone have a new kidney and a new outlook, he has about the best birthday gift anyone could receive.

“I am lucky,” said Cocciolone, a Monessen resident. “It’s a great birthday present. My sister gave me a kidney and my life has improved tremendously. What a gift.”

Cocciolone trained horses up until the day before the transplant. When he was in better health, Cocciolone could work out 15-20 horses a day. In the last months leading up to the transplant, he could manage only two or three a day.

“I was wiped out and went home and then spent about 10 hours on dialysis each day,” he said. “It was six different sessions, an hour-and-a-half each. It just wears you out.

“At times when I’d drive home from the track, my legs felt like tree trunks – big tree trunks.”

Cocciolone, 62, praised the work of all his doctors throughout the process that got stalled a bit this summer when his sister found out she did not have a spleen. That was just a bump in the road.

“From the beginning, I wished I was a match,” said Alcorn, who celebrated her 28th anniversary with her husband Rick while wearing a hospital gown last weekend. “We did have a setback in mid-July. Things weren’t aligning. It was only a little setback.

“When they said we were a match, I just had a feeling of being blessed, knowing I could help him.”

Alcorn said the family – Cocciolone’s three daughters, Kristen, Carly and Jessica; his wife, Sharon; her husband and their sister, Joanne – pulled together to provide support and make the process work.

“I had a pretty good support system,” Alcorn said. “Rick was my anchor throughout. Joanne took care of everything at home. I had two mentors (friends) who had been through it themselves. I could not have done this without my faith and all of them.”

The siblings’ father, Raymond, owned horses at The Meadow since the early 1970s. He died about 10 years ago. Their late mother, Rose, was the foundation of their family.

“As I’m getting ready to go into surgery (Friday), the first nurse I see says, ‘Hello’ to me,” Alcorn said. “She said, ‘my name is Rose.’ I said OK, here’s my guardian angel because that was our mom’s name. It gave me an unbelievable feeling of peace.”

Alcorn, a teacher at Madonna Catholic in Monongahela, also resides in Monessen. She said the togetherness of the family has brought her brother a better life.

“We’re a pretty close family,” she added. “Family is first. That’s what we were taught. I’m happy I was able to give Carl the chance to see grandchildren or help Kristen expand her (hair salon) business or walk Jessica down the aisle.”

While he cannot work or get back into a regular routine for four to six weeks, Cocciolone wants his life to return to as normal as possible as soon as possible.

“No pulling or pushing,” he said. “I’ll be at the barn as often as I can be, just walking around. I feel so much better now.”

He said he thinks more clearly and differently.

“If I had to wait for a cadaver kidney, it could have taken three to three-and-a-half years, they told me,” Cocciolone said. “So, yes, I am lucky and fortunate and I appreciate what my sister did for me and the support my entire family gives me.”

It won’t be long before he is working and training his horses.

“That will make me really happy,” he said. “Honestly, I have been blessed and I am thankful to just be able to live a better, healthier life.”