Stratford Police Department holds organ screening for veteran detective in need of new kidney

Marcus Solis Image
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Organ screening drive organized for detective of Stratford Police Department
Marcus Solis has more on the 17-year veteran and detective in Stratford, Connecticut that needs a kidney transplant.

STRATFORD, Connecticut (WABC) -- A group of kidney donors lined up in Connecticut Tuesday afternoon, hopeful they would be a match for a detective with more than 15 years in the Stratford Police Department.

The building next to Stratford Police headquarters, was where people like Virginia Stafford answered questions - not in an interrogation, but rather for the chance to help Detective Jennifer Murolo who is in need of a kidney transplant.

"I'm already on a national bone marrow registry, so I thought that if I could add kidney and liver to that to help somebody in need," said Stafford, a Middletown resident.

Murolo is a 17-year veteran suffering from a genetic condition that resulted in her mother receiving a kidney transplant decades ago. But the 40-year-old is wary of publicity and actually tried to cancel Tuesday's organ donor screening drive organized by the department and Yale New Haven Health.

"Some people who step forward will say, 'you know, I want to see if I'm a match for Jennifer.' If they're not they can be put into an exchange program where they may match with somebody else," said Kara Ventura of Yale New Haven Health.

Detective Murolo is so private it wasn't until her sister posted about it on Facebook that the department learned of her condition. Her colleagues immediately sprang into action.

"Everybody is giving their full support to do whatever needs to be done in hopes of finding her a kidney donor, perhaps even helping someone else find a donor match," said Stratford Police Department Captain Gerald Pinto.

Murolo has continued to investigate cases while others are working to find a living donor match.

"She's a trooper, she's non-stop, she's dedicated, and at the sometime she's going through this and you wouldn't know it just by looking at her," Pinto said.

That's part of the reason the captain calls Murolo one of his top detectives -- one a community is rallying to help.

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