Nick Navarrete, a 25-year-old Greenwich resident, needs a kidney transplant, and his mother says the need is urgent.

Navarrete's kidney function has dropped below 10 percent. He now undergoes peritoneal dialysis at home nightly, sometimes for up to 10 hours, according to his National Kidney Registry profile. The Greenwich-based registry, which facilitates living-donor kidney transplants across the United States, has helped the family connect with potential donors.

Ruth Anapol, Navarrete's mother, first reported by Patch, said the search for a living donor is critical. "His life is pretty diminished. That's the hardest thing to see as a mom," she said.

Navarrete grew up in Greenwich, attending Parkway School and Central Middle School before graduating from the Academy of Information and Technology in Stamford. He enrolled at Lincoln Technical Institute in Stratford in January 2025 to train as an electrician. But blurry vision sent him to an eye doctor, who immediately referred him to the emergency room.

His blood pressure was soaring, and blood was detected in his eyes, Patch reported. He spent 10 days at Greenwich Hospital, including three in the intensive care unit. Doctors diagnosed him with Stage 4 kidney disease caused by glomerulonephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys' tiny filters. He had been an otherwise healthy young man whose only prior doctor visits were sports physicals in high school.

By December 2025, Navarrete was placed on the transplant waiting list at Yale New Haven Hospital. He is also listed at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. But the wait for a deceased donor kidney runs five to eight years, Anapol told Patch, with roughly 97,000 people on the national list at any given time.

The family wants a living donor. Navarrete has type O blood, which narrows the pool of compatible matches. His immediate family members, including his 27-year-old sister Laura, have been disqualified as potential donors.

The National Kidney Registry (NKR), founded in 2007, says it has facilitated more than 13,340 living-donor kidney transplants. Through its paired-exchange program, a donor can give a kidney on a patient's behalf, and the patient receives a compatible kidney from another living donor. Donor testing and surgery costs are covered, and the NKR's Donor Shield program may help with travel, lodging and lost wages, according to the registry.

Navarrete is also registered with Renewal, a Brooklyn-based organization that helps kidney patients find living donors. A swabbing event held in partnership with Renewal at Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford drew 18 participants. Anapol said she is awaiting those results.

Sonia Malloy, owner of Splurge in Greenwich where Anapol works, has helped spread the word. Anapol's brother, Thomas, is organizing a walk in Philadelphia on Sunday, Oct. 25, to raise awareness and money for the National Kidney Foundation.

Navarrete wrote on his NKR profile that he still dreams of becoming an electrician. "Kidney disease may have taken away some of my strength and put some of my plans on hold, but it hasn't taken away my dreams," he wrote.

How to help: Potential donors can visit Navarrete's profile on the National Kidney Registry or email Renewal at [email protected]. Thomas Anapol's awareness walk takes place Sunday, Oct. 25, in Philadelphia, benefiting the National Kidney Foundation.