It’s been a long and daunting journey, but Clare Torelli has come through and is now on the road to recovery, thanks to a lot of help from her family and friends as well as the caring show of support from so many in her community.

This time last year, the Branford resident was in stage 5 kidney failure due to hereditary polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and receiving dialysis three times a week. Thanks to her many friends, she had a network of drivers covering each trip to the local medical center and helping her to keep up with caring for her beloved farm animals and pets.

Due to her illness, Clare did not seek reelection to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) in November 2023 after serving District 1 for eight terms (16 consecutive years). She also retired, after 43 years, from her role with Branford Public Schools, including her well-known post as the receptionist at Branford High School. Clare’s also known to many through her former volunteer efforts with MADD, Branford Compassion Club, Branford Community Dining Room, Walter Camp Foundation, and the Special Olympics.

For anyone who knows Clare, they know she is imbued with a can-do spirit. That’s what carried her through as she began her search for a match for a living kidney donor in August of 2021 when she was diagnosed at stage 4. Last summer, with still no match after nearly two years of trying, Clare took a further step, mailing out 4,200 postcards in hopes of connecting with a potential match through the living donor program at Hartford Hospital. Among many who helped to spread the word, she especially thanks Darcey Eldridge for design, printing and postal distribution of the postcards, as well as John Saville, a good friend and well-known Connecticut DJ, for his help from early on.

On Dec. 2, 2023, Hartford Hospital called Clare to notify her that a donor kidney match had been located, although not in the way Clare, or anyone, would have hoped. The kidney had been harvested after a young woman lost her life, and her parents donated their daughter’s vital organs to help others.

“I was watching TV, and I got a call at 5:30 at night, and it was Hartford Hospital. They said, ‘We’ve got a kidney for you, and we need you to come in,’” Clare recalls. “'I said, ‘When do you want me there? Tomorrow?’ And they said, ‘No, now.”

Clare called her niece for a ride in; and the next morning, at 8 a.m., she was on the operating table.

“It happened that fast,” Clare says. “And in two days, the kidney started working, which was really unusual. It usually takes two to three weeks.”

By December, Clare had been placed among those at the top donor list due to being on dialysis, which she began in March of 2023. While she came through the surgery successfully, she did experience some complications with the incision, which brought her back to the hospital in April for a follow-up surgical procedure. Through it all, Clare relied on family and friends to help her get through.

As she looks forward to becoming more independent soon, Clare’s incredibly grateful and humbled by those who continue offering to help and just wants to be sure they know she gives all of them her thanks.

“I’m watching all these people doing the work I want to be doing for myself, and I feel so bad, especially now with summer coming,” says Clare. “Hopefully, at my next appointment this month, the doctor will tell me I can go back to doing normal stuff again. It’s a lot of work, and they have been incredible.”

Among those Clare especially thanks are her core group of helpers, who have assisted with shopping, meals, driving to and from appointments, and feeding and caring for her animals.

“They’re family members, and they’re friends who really, really help me seven days a week. They’re just such troopers,” says Clare.

She especially thanks her family, including her son, Peter, who also has PKD, for returning to town from his home away to assist and act as an advocate for her, as well as her daughter, Stacy, for her constant support, and brother and sister-in-law, who traveled here to assist during her recovery. Additionally, Clare is grateful for the support help, and advocacy of Leno Torelli.

While she still can’t manage to care for them on her own, just recently, Clare got the okay to visit her animals, with precautions.

“They were so happy to see me!,” she says. “But they also have been so happy to see everyone who’s come out to help take care of them.”

She especially thanks her friend Wendy Wynn for overseeing the care of her horses, including setting up a schedule for 13 volunteers, who Wynn also trained to care for the horses seven days a week.

“I didn’t have to worry about the horses for months. Wendy was there all the time and had everyone organized to help take care of them,” says Clare.

For her health, Clare will need to continue to curb her interactions with people and the public, but she also wants to thank so many in the community who made an effort to respond to her call for a donor match.

“I just want to thank all those who went and got tested for me. They couldn’t give me the names, but when I called to see if they found anyone, they said they were just flooded with people,” says Clare. “And I don’t know how many have left their name on the donor list for others when they found they weren’t compatible with me, but that is such a great contribution because there are so many others who need a kidney.”