Welcome back to the No Grey Areas podcast, hosted by Pat McCalla, featured a compelling episode with guests, Nino DiGiulio and Renee Black, centered around an extraordinary act of selflessness and faith! Nino, who had been undergoing grueling dialysis for 2.5 years, was in need of a kidney. Enter Renee, who, driven by a divine calling, decided to donate her kidney to Nino, despite being strangers.

Nino found himself deepening his faith and developing a stronger moral compass, while Renee experienced a renewed sense of faith and confidence in God's ability to use ordinary people for extraordinary purposes. Imagine what would happen if you just said “YES” to His plan?

Their story serves as a testament to the power of faith and selflessness, demonstrating that miracles can happen through ordinary individuals who are willing to answer a higher calling. If you loved this episode, be sure to like, follow, and subscribe for more episodes!

If you want to get ahold of either Nino or Renee, this is their contact information:

NINO'S INFO:

480-861-2494

nino_digiulio@yahoo.com

RENEE'S INFO:

480-216-0469

hudson1320@yahoo.com

Be sure to like our podcast, share it with a friend, and leave a review!

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbnC2rjEumGJhqy54qazFFw

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No Grey Areas is a motivational podcast with captivating guests centered around how our choices humanize, empower, and define who we become. This podcast is inspired by the cautionary tale, No Grey Areas, written by Joseph Gagliano. Learn more about the truth behind his story involved with sports' biggest scandal at nogreyareas.com

#habits #success #change #motivation #motivational #inspiration #difference #choices #nga #purpose #liveonpurose #lifestyle #better #mentalhealth #decisions

Host

Welcome back to the No Gray Areas podcast. I'm your host, Patrick McCullough. You tuned in for an incredible episode where we dive into the inspirational journey of Nino and Rene. This conversation is driven by faith and showcases Rene's selfless story on how she donated her kidney to a complete stranger. This discussion proves to you and me that miracles happen through ordinary people.

Host

Let's get started.

Pat McCalla

Nino and Rene, welcome to the No Go Areas podcast. It is a joy to have you here. So I'm going to just jump right in to the deep into this pool.

Pat McCalla

Rene, why in the world would you give your kidney to a complete stranger?

Renee Black

God told me to

Pat McCalla

really

Renee Black

really

Pat McCalla

Can you just. And we're going to jump into this whole story in our audience right now.

Pat McCalla

It's probably a little bit in shock. They're like, Wait, what?

Renee Black

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

So this is going to be great.

Pat McCalla

You kidney transplant. You need a kidney, Rene. You, you and we're going to get into how this all happened, but you did not know each other in any way. And this just recently happened for January 3rd was when this.

Renee Black

surgery

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah, yeah, six

Renee Black

Yeah, I was walking my dogs and it just in our new neighborhood and I walked by his truck and he had a sticker on the back of it that said, I need a kidney, can you help me?

Renee Black

And then it had an email address, and I think his phone number was there. And I just had this over whelming sadness truly, that I just felt so sad that he was in such need that he would go to those length. And I just felt, God just, you know, I just said, thank you, Jesus, please help this man.

Renee Black

And I just kept walking and I felt the spirit of the Lord say, No, you're going to help this man. Wow. And I laughed it off. I mean, I truly in my head was like, ha ha, you're funny. Great sense of humor. I love you. And I just kept on walking and I got back to my house and let my dogs off the leash.

Renee Black

And I had this again. The Holy Spirit came over me and said, You may not be able to give this man a kidney, but you can give him something, whether it's a word of encouragement, a hug, a cry, something, go ask him what he needs. And I just walked right over to his truck. And oddly enough, he was sitting in his truck and I just knocked on the window and he was on the phone with his nephrologist, which is his kidney specialist.

Renee Black

And he just said one minute. And I just waited very patiently. And he got off the phone and I said, I noticed that you have a sticker on your truck. Do you still need a kidney? And he was like, Yeah, I said, I want to help you. And he turned his truck off and invited me into their office and we just went in for a few minutes and had a brief conversation and I said, I don't know if I can do this for you, but I'm going to try.

Pat McCalla

Wow,

Renee Black

Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

right.

Pat McCalla

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

So what was that like for you? You're sitting in your truck and someone knocks on the window and you roll down the window. Walk us through

Nino DiGiulio

I roll down the window. I told you we were

Nino DiGiulio

just about done with our conversation. So I did say one second. The window was up and I got off the phone and at first I thought, okay, it's a homeowner's that has a complaint or something, but it's far from that.

Nino DiGiulio

So I rolled down my window and she asked me if I still needed a kidney, and I said yes. And she just said, I want to help you. So I invited her inside. We spoke for a while. I put her in contact with my coordinator

Nino DiGiulio

and it went off from there.

Pat McCalla

wow. Now, you had been going through dialysis for two and a half years.

Nino DiGiulio

Two and a half years, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 4 hours each session.

Pat McCalla

Yeah. Yeah. And that's so. So walk us through what that is like. Let's say some of our audience doesn't know what dialysis is or what you have to go through for dialysis.

Nino DiGiulio

So the kidney function is to

Nino DiGiulio

clean your blood from what you intake food and stuff, and the kidneys purpose is to filter your blood.

Nino DiGiulio

So with my kidney not working, I had to get the assistance of the machine, the dialysis machine. And it filters it drains your your blood and filters it and then puts it back in your body.

Pat McCalla

it's taking the blood out of your body, running it through artificial kidney, in a sense,

Nino DiGiulio

yes. The machine

Nino DiGiulio

Correct.

Nino DiGiulio

And

Nino DiGiulio

Monday, Wednesday, right? Yes.

Nino DiGiulio

It's

Nino DiGiulio

time consuming and it's painful. After after each session, I'm I'm like out of it. My body is sore and achy and I usually just go to bed for the whole day

Nino DiGiulio

because I can't function

Pat McCalla

So, yeah, you're just tired and exhausted. And

Pat McCalla

you were actually you had a job where you were traveling at times and so you were just telling me before we turn on these mikes that when you went to another city, you would actually have to find a place, a hospital that you could go to, and you'd go there like four in the morning and do this before.

Nino DiGiulio

before my meetings would start. So while everyone was recovering from the night before

Nino DiGiulio

I got up early to go to the dialysis center, would do my 4 hours and then return back in time to start the meetings.

Pat McCalla

So, you know, a lot of our audience are just listen to the audio. But we do have

Pat McCalla

percentage of them that watch the YouTube as well.

Pat McCalla

So they're going to see this visually. So can you just show us for those that all the audio people know you're missing out,

Pat McCalla

it. But right before we turn this on, you were showing me your arm there

Pat McCalla

you said put your finger right there. So right by your bicep, your left bicep.

Pat McCalla

And I put my finger on there and I can just I can feel your, you know, big your heartbeat just boom, boom, boom. So what was that? What is

Nino DiGiulio

So this is called a fistula,

Pat McCalla

Okay?

Nino DiGiulio

It's a vein that they connect to my artery, to my heart, so that they have good blood flow. What you're feeling is the flow of the blood.

Pat McCalla

Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

And dialysis does a fistula, and they put in two needles. So every Monday, Wednesday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I got two needles put in me.

Nino DiGiulio

The first needle takes the blood out of my body, it filters it. And then simultaneously, after it's filtered, it goes back in through the second needle. Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

After a while, you kind of don't even feel the needles going in anymore because there's so much scarring. Yeah,

Nino DiGiulio

but yeah, for 4 hours I would just sit there on the chair, usually lay down and I used to do it early in the morning, so I would try to sleep a little.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah. Yeah.

Pat McCalla

So you, you had been going through this for quite a while. You're on the donor list, which is

Pat McCalla

quite a mess, right?

Pat McCalla

I mean, it's just there's a lot of people on the donor list.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah. Arizona has thousands and thousands of people waiting for a kidney.

Nino DiGiulio

In fact,

Nino DiGiulio

when this all started, the doctor told me can Arizona averages 3 to 7 years before you get a kidney. So I figured, okay, well, I'm going to be doing this for a while. Living donor helps the process go a lot quicker because you have someone that's ready to go. Most people get to donate a kidney from either someone who's deceased.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah. And then that causes a bunch of problems, too, because, you know, the person passed away. But so getting a living donor is the optimal way to to get the transplant.

Pat McCalla

And you had been on that list. You're waiting. So that day you're sitting in your truck. And I want to ask in a moment about how those signs were made and

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

So what's funny about the list is you can get on the list. And as quickly as that happens, you can be off the list depending on the tests that you're doing. And if they find other issues, they'll take you off the list

Pat McCalla

had been going? Yeah. You had told me that before we turned our mikes on. You had been going on and off the list because

Nino DiGiulio

Correct. You

Nino DiGiulio

Yes.

Nino DiGiulio

About two years. About two years.

Nino DiGiulio

Like the last time they found a clogged arteries. So they had to put a stint in me. So they took me off the list. Now, the good thing about it is when you're off the list, you're off, right? So you're not a candidate. But soon as they put you back on the list, it's not like you lose your spot and then having a living donor just kind of move the all the way up

Pat McCalla

And, you know, I'm bouncing around a little bit in this interview, but I'm just I'm almost a little shell shocked here, sitting here, because this is such a fascinating story.

Pat McCalla

you know, again, all of us being people of faith, I can't help but pause you for a moment. Just say, isn't it incredible that when you were walking that day, Rene, that we know that God knew exactly what that guy in that truck needed and he knew that you were you would be a match. You didn't know that.

Pat McCalla

He didn't know that doctors it, but he knew that and how he just he orchestrated that whole thing.

Pat McCalla

and a lot of it came from you just being obedient to that voice.

Renee Black

Yeah,

Renee Black

Yeah, I

Renee Black

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

And

Pat McCalla

so again, this podcast is built around the power and complexity of human choice

Renee Black

Yeah,

Renee Black

Yep.

Pat McCalla

right? You could have ignored what you heard God telling you,

Pat McCalla

but you chose not to.

Renee Black

Yeah.

Renee Black

you know, I just. It just confirms for me how wonderful God is, how he does know every need we have at every moment that other people don't even recognize.

Renee Black

Right. I think the power and the grace that God gives us as human beings, I don't even think we know we carry. And it just it's just an affirmation for me that God is so good and that he performs miracles every day, even if other people don't see them. And yes, God, you know, he stands by our choices.

Renee Black

We don't always choose. Right. Right. But I've made so many mistakes in my life and I have not listened to the voice of God. And I have regretted it deeply, deeply for so long afterwards that I told myself, if if he reveals himself to me, I will listen. And I tell him that every morning when I wake up, I am yours.

Renee Black

I'm just a vessel, however it is that you want to use me. But whoever you want in my path, I will follow you.

Pat McCalla

Was that a pattern in your life at that time? Because I heard you say, Rene, that when you back up, you look back and you see where there was a lot of mistakes you made, where you didn't listen to him and you had regrets over

Renee Black

life

Renee Black

Were

Renee Black

that? No, I had been on my path for a while. Then,

Renee Black

you know, when you're a baby Christian and you're just coming into your faith and, you know, I encourage people that I know to ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart.

Renee Black

And I feel like after I did that, you know, when you're growing in your faith and you're becoming who you are and who you're supposed to be in Christ, after I asked him for that thing that favor, like, Please give me the gift of the Holy Spirit, I, I could hear the voice of the Lord, and it was such a beautiful thing to be able to know that that was his voice and not mine.

Renee Black

And so when I started to listen and I did all the things right, if you guys, you know, are followers of Christ, he will ask you to do things you do not want to do. And weird things or odd things that you're like. It

Pat McCalla

that makes you uncomfortable,

Renee Black

yeah. yeah. Go talk to that person or just go feed that person.

Renee Black

in your thinking, my gosh, this is really weird. Like embarrassing. This person doesn't know me. They're standing on a corner. Like, who am I? Right? But when I really started listening to that still small voice, the miraculous things that came from it just to fulfillment, just the peace, the joy, the love, the kindness that I received from doing those things for other people filled my whole life.

Renee Black

And I at that moment was like, That's why I said, If you use me however you see fit, use me and I will follow you. Because he showed me all of these things after I started listening that I said, I will not deny you. And so when he's told me to do that, of course in my mind, this is so bizarre that this could even work this that this could even really happen.

Renee Black

But like you said, that listening and obeying, that's all I wanted to do. So I knew that if I just did that, that I would reap the benefits.

Pat McCalla

you just summed up what it means to be a follower of Jesus in a pretty simple way. And it is that simple because Jesus just said, Follow

Renee Black

me. Yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah, yeah. To do. Yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah.

Renee Black

yet

Renee Black

Yes.

Renee Black

Yeah.

Renee Black

No.

Renee Black

Like you said, I had been doing it long enough, really following, you know, and doing what I was asked.

Renee Black

And like I said, you know, in the back of my mind when when the Holy Spirit said, you're probably not going to be a candidate to give this guy a kidney. I mean, really, what are the chances? Like really that's what was going through my mind. But the fact that the inkling that behind it was, okay, maybe not a kidney, maybe just a hug, maybe just a shoulder, maybe just, hey, listen, I'm really sorry that you're going through this.

Renee Black

I'm here if you want to talk, here's my phone number. I know I'm a stranger. Just something that would let him know that he's not alone.

Pat McCalla

that's that, again, is something that any of us can do on any day with any person.

Renee Black

Yes.

Pat McCalla

we feel that

Pat McCalla

that nudge, when we feel that little voice

Renee Black

Renee Black

Yeah,

Renee Black

Yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah.

Renee Black

yeah. yeah.

Renee Black

Right.

Nino DiGiulio

yeah,

Nino DiGiulio

boys. Yeah. So my sister Laura lives in Houston

Nino DiGiulio

and I remember the day that the doctor said, you're going to need a transplant. I went back to the lobby after I met with them and I just sat for a minute just to kind of gather all my thoughts.

Nino DiGiulio

And my sister and I are really close. So I called her from the lobby and I told her the news and she said, You know what? Nino's got to find you someone that'll help you. And in order to get a kidney, you have to have a designated caregiver. And my sister said, I'll be your caregiver when this happens.

Nino DiGiulio

I'll fly up. I'll stay with you as long as you need to. And so my sister was brainstorming, how do we help him get a kidney? And one of her ideas was to get a sticker on the back of my truck that said, I need a kidney. Can you help? Question Mark? And then my email address. We created a new email address, too, just for people to hit that.

Nino DiGiulio

And at first I told it. Now that's kind of dorky, you know?

Nino DiGiulio

She said, No, I'm sending it to you. So when you get it, put it on. She's my baby sister, but I've learned to listen to her. So

Nino DiGiulio

my son and I put the sticker on when it arrived, and it kind of fit perfectly on the back of the bed.

Nino DiGiulio

And so we put that on. And my sister also called from Houston, all of the news stations here in Phenix. And she said, listen, my my brother needs a kidney. Would you guys like to do a story on him? And all three networks called me and came out to do a story on me.

Pat McCalla

she was getting the word

Nino DiGiulio

She was getting the word out.

Nino DiGiulio

My mom is also very religious, so she was praying and my sisters praying. And so all the news stations came out to my home. We did the interviews.

Nino DiGiulio

It was pretty incredible. I got a lot of responses, a lot of emails, probably over 100 emails from people, even one from South Africa,

Pat McCalla

Really?

Nino DiGiulio

And so I

Nino DiGiulio

encouraging emails, and people say, I'd like to help you, I'll donate my kidney.

Nino DiGiulio

So I would respond to everything. I'll email by giving them my coordinator's name, thanking them and blessing them, and having them start the process of calling the coordinator.

Nino DiGiulio

Well, a lot of good people out there in this world. When you hear such negative stories all over the world, there are good people. Yes, unfortunately, none of them panned through. I they probably saw the story, got emotional, shot me an email, but it was encouraging. You know, there's there's good people out there and they're willing to help.

Nino DiGiulio

But nothing like the day that Renee tapped on my window.

Pat McCalla

Pat McCalla

that they're the fingerprints of God in our world. And, and, and human beings are creating the image of God. And yeah, we see a lot of evil in all you do is turn on the news and you see a lot of evil. But if you watch, if you look, you will also see beauty, truth and goodness, the fingerprints of God in our world.

Nino DiGiulio

Yes.

Pat McCalla

your story like what you saw when this story started going out, as you saw that you saw people responding and encouraging and reaching out. But that

Pat McCalla

takes us back to to Renee, that you're saying that a lot of those didn't follow through necessarily. Maybe they were in emotional.

Pat McCalla

So when you were walking down the road that day and you guys met, it's not like this month later you guys went in and had this kidney transplant.

Pat McCalla

Right? It

Nino DiGiulio

Right. Little

Renee Black

Yeah,

Renee Black

yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

Took about a year and eight months from the day she tapped on my glass to January 3rd.

Nino DiGiulio

Why so long? Mostly on my end. Because I had issue after issue that I had to correct. Yeah. Which took me off the list.

Nino DiGiulio

Yes. Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

and Rene, I would tell Rene, you know, we'd call or text each other. We text almost every day now. But I would tell her, Hey, listen, they'd taken me off the list because of this issue or that issue.

Nino DiGiulio

And Rene said, you know, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'm sticking with you. This is going to happen. If I can help you, I will help you. I'm not going away, which was a comfort to me. You know, I found someone who really cares

Pat McCalla

you found someone. I got to say this again, though. You found some that you didn't even know

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah,

Nino DiGiulio

Well, she found me.

Pat McCalla

Yeah? Yes. Yeah, exactly.

Pat McCalla

You know, again, it's just.

Pat McCalla

I picture a picture of Jesus smiling in this whole story, right? Like when your sister is calling the news stations and she makes that little sticker for your truck. She's just had to be smiling knowing where that was going to go.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah,

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah, right. You

Nino DiGiulio

Right.

Nino DiGiulio

the.

Renee Black

It's miraculous.

Pat McCalla

yeah, yeah, it is.

Renee Black

It's truly miraculous.

Pat McCalla

What made you so a year and eight months, you said?

Renee Black

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

What made you stick with this during that time? Then

Pat McCalla

What made you stick with this during that time? Then

Renee Black

let's think. God never leaves us. Why would I leave him? I knew he was going to go through trials. I knew things were going to come up again.

Renee Black

You know, when everything comes up, you think this is the sign. This is the one that's going to say, No, this isn't going to happen. You're not a match or he's not ready, you know, But yet again, I would I just would never do that. I'm a person of integrity. That's what God says. We don't just leave someone because they're going through a hard time.

Renee Black

We don't just turn our back because we don't feel like we want it. This is where God put me at the perfect time, the perfect place. I was not going to detour myself or talk to myself out of doing this for him. We, you know, we kept in contact again, the beginning of it was really, you know, kind of slow and just, you know, basic stuff.

Renee Black

Hey, can you go get your blood drawn? We needed to see if you guys are a match, right? I mean, there's a blood match. Could this even work? So, you know, that starts out and were the exact same blood type.

Pat McCalla

quickly do you find that out? Was that like within weeks

Renee Black

so

Renee Black

I want to say, what

Nino DiGiulio

probably about a month or two.

Renee Black

Probably about a month or

Nino DiGiulio

because they wouldn't even check Rene, unless some of my issues were moving forward. Yeah,

Nino DiGiulio

and I remember the day Rene called me goes, My God, we're a blood match, which was like, Wow, You know, that's a huge hurdle. Yeah, because you can't just mix someone's blood with someone else's. That's not the same.

Nino DiGiulio

And not just

Renee Black

a match. Compatible were the exact same blood type a positive?

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah. So that was crazy to me. Just like, you know. my gosh, that's awesome.

Renee Black

Then a little bit more time went by and he had some. That's when his heart stuff came back and he just, you know, said, Hey, this is going to be on hold just for a little bit. I need to have some stuff done.

Renee Black

And of course, again, my heart, my heart was sad. Like he's already going through so much with diabetes, with dialysis, with kidney failure. And now this comes up and I'm thinking, what more is this man going to have to go through? And of course, I prayed with him. I told him, I'm praying for you every day. And he just, you know, just said, you know, I'm going to be put on hold.

Renee Black

And I said, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be right here waiting. You just let me know nothing on my end has changed. And so that that happened, though, we, you know, messaged back and forth through that, of course. And then after that was done, they they called again and said, hey, can you go have some more blood drawn?

Renee Black

And so they took about 20 vials of blood the second time to basically test you for everything. You know, is there anything going on in your system that we should be concerned about? And that came back and nothing came up?

Pat McCalla

Wow.

Nino DiGiulio

You know, Rene told me a while back,

Nino DiGiulio

after a year, year and a half, year and eight months of doing this, Rene said something to me that sticks with me today.

Nino DiGiulio

It's she goes, God didn't bring us together all this time for it, for anything to go wrong.

Nino DiGiulio

And how true, you know. Yeah. So,

Renee Black

like, you know, he says, if God brings you to it, he'll see through it. And I just kept telling him that he did not bring us this far to watch us fail, and he will not fail us.

Renee Black

You know, the moments where he was a little nervous or he kept asking, Are you okay? Are you nervous? And every time I said no, because God brings this peace over you, that I will not fail you. You have listened to my voice. You have obeyed exactly what I have asked you to do. Why would I let you down now?

Renee Black

right. And

Pat McCalla

know, Renee,

Pat McCalla

I can see why. You know, you probably have some doubts, you know, And you were probably at times going, is she going to see a true because you were just telling us that you got a lot of people that reached out early

Nino DiGiulio

just you

Renee Black

Yeah.

Renee Black

me. Yeah,

Pat McCalla

Did you have any doubters on your side? Rene? Did you have people that were going, What are you doing?

Renee Black

know this guy? Do you know how how wonderful it is that

Renee Black

the people in my life know me as well as they do to know that this is who I am, This is my heart.

Renee Black

And I did not have I truly my my husband and my son are so wonderful to me. But even my family, my mom, people who who could have been or or maybe should have been a little nervous of like, this is my baby girl. Like, this is my my daughter. Like, what if something does happen to her? Like, but I did not have any naysayers.

Renee Black

Not one person that came to me and was like, you know, I don't know that you should do this. It's not a good idea. What if you die? What if What if, what if? And I said, That's not up to you. That is up to God, and I'm going to do what he asked me to do. So just let it go and again, no, no one, everyone was like, my gosh, you are.

Renee Black

That's amazing. I think you know, too, though, in the back of their minds, they thought the same thing that we thought, which was the chances of this actually happening are like slim to none. So I think they were kind of in the background going, okay, honey,

Renee Black

yeah, yeah,

Renee Black

yes, yeah,

Renee Black

But they didn't they never said, we never thought this was going to happen.

Renee Black

Like, we can't believe you're here right now. None of them. Everyone just literally just saw me right through all my tests. When I would come back, they would text me, you know, how did it go? How did you do? How did you. And we would be in communication, you know, and I the whole time as well. So it really has been, again, the grace and the beauty that God bestows on us and our people that love us.

Renee Black

It's it's just it's so beautiful to me.

Pat McCalla

Community is so important,

Renee Black

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

saying is

Pat McCalla

you have a community around you, your husband, your son,

Renee Black

Yeah.

Renee Black

God. Yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

that's that's a beautiful thing.

Pat McCalla

When you guys found out that it was a green light, how long before, sir? So January 3rd, you guys went and you did this transplant

Renee Black

It was a couple months.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah. Couple months. That to get it scheduled. Yeah.

Renee Black

mean, truly, I think we would have done it earlier when we had talked about everything going through him being on the other side of, of the health stuff, all of my, again, my testing all came back. Everything was good. We really were like looking at our calendars going, okay, let's do it. We thought honestly, November 29th

Renee Black

was like a good time for us.

Renee Black

It was after Thanksgiving, it was before Christmas. It was, you know, time to heal in between. And then when we talked to the coordinator her, she was like, my first available is January 3rd. And we were both like, okay, well, I guess we're going to do it January 3rd. So that's how it worked.

Pat McCalla

what was that like for you, Nina, when you found out like this? This is kind of this is real.

Pat McCalla

Like this is going to happen, though.

Nino DiGiulio

I was like,

Nino DiGiulio

wow, I can't believe this is happening. Thank God for having Rene in my life and seeing us through all this. But yeah, I was excited.

Nino DiGiulio

My family was excited. My sister and my mom were super excited. So yeah, it's a great feeling to know that there's someone out there that's going to do this for you.

Pat McCalla

So January 3rd, that's the day that you guys get.

Pat McCalla

We'll. Did you see each other that day?

Nino DiGiulio

yeah,

Renee Black

We had dinner the night before with our families, my sign and my husband and his mom, his sister and his children. And so we all got to meet each other. That was one of our things.

Renee Black

We really wanted our families to be involved in everything and we wanted them to feel comfortable and close. Like we feel comfortable and close. You know, we've built over the last two years this beautiful friendship. And we wanted them to feel the same about each other, about being comfortable. And so we had this really nice dinner

Renee Black

the night before.

Renee Black

Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

What's funny is my doctor said no eating after midnight

Nino DiGiulio

the night before. Her doctor said only liquid. You can eat for three days. For three days

Renee Black

before

Renee Black

and three days after. yeah, I got to have ice cream. I had ice cream and pineapple juice for dinner. And you know what was so sweet, though?

Renee Black

His sister

Renee Black

and we communicated a little bit on Facebook and stuff like that. And when I met her, I felt like I've known her my whole life, but she in honor of me, she ate the same thing I did for dinner because she just felt so, you know, she was like, Listen, if this is what you're having, this is what I'm going to have in solidarity.

Renee Black

You like totally supporting me. It was so sweet.

Pat McCalla

So how has this changed you? This whole story? I'll start with you, Nino.

Pat McCalla

How has this changed you? Because you, you know, you're you're obviously going through disappointments. You're not even sure if you're going to live through this in the early days of it. You're going through the dialysis three times a week, 4 hours a day, and then this person knocks on your window and then this story's unfolding. But it takes time.

Pat McCalla

You don't know if it's going to work. And then and here you are on the other side of it, about six weeks out for sure.

Pat McCalla

How has this changed you?

Nino DiGiulio

So, I mean, I the biggest change is

Nino DiGiulio

I'm I'm deeper into my faith. I've never really been religious. I mean, I know good from bad and what's good to do and what's bad to do.

Nino DiGiulio

But since that and maybe even a little bit before the surgery, just hanging out with Rene and her husband, I've really got the sense that I got to get closer to God than I have been. And so

Nino DiGiulio

it's a good feeling to be close to God. Yeah, it really is. I talk to him every day.

Nino DiGiulio

I talk to my father to he's passed away a couple of years ago.

Nino DiGiulio

And so it's just a it's a warmth that I have inside, knowing that my faith is super, super strong. Yeah.

Pat McCalla

What about you, Rene? How has this changed you? Or has it?

Renee Black

yeah. I mean, and I'm sure more things will come up, you know, down the line of how much this has changed me.

Renee Black

Again, it's just it's renewed my faith. It has just. It's renewed my love for God and just knowing and feeling like if he can use me to do this, he can use anyone right? It's just that like that again, that like affirmation of no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, God is going to use you in a mighty way.

Renee Black

You just have to let him know that you're available. And, you know, I wanted to say, you know, this mainly that, you know, this podcast is about choices and choices that we make. And before I want you to know how how really this is this is so miraculous that this happened just period, how this happened. But the beginning of this whole thing is even more amazing to because I don't even know how we got here.

Renee Black

I, my husband and I years ago, we both had six figure jobs and God told us to quit our jobs and sell everything we owned and travel to spread the good news of the Lord. And we did boats, cars, houses. We gave it all away. And when we started to travel, it was more even more of a blessing knowing that we were doing this for him.

Renee Black

And we met beautiful people and we saw beautiful things. And, you know, we were coming home just to celebrate the holidays with our families and we were going to hit the road again. There's so many beautiful things here and so many wonders that God has created that we really, really wanted to see. And when we got back to town, the place we were supposed to stay didn't work out.

Renee Black

And somehow we ended up in a mobile home park in Casa Grande, Arizona, and then decided to stay because my husband was offered his dream job. We sold the motorcoach and rented a house in Nino's neighborhood

Pat McCalla

And again, you just see how God orchestrated this whole thing, right?

Renee Black

I mean, how beautiful to think way back then

Renee Black

when we didn't even know what was happening, we didn't even know what was coming.

Renee Black

We weren't even prepared. And God had this all planned out.

Pat McCalla

Wow. Any regrets?

Renee Black

no,

Nino DiGiulio

none at all.

Nino DiGiulio

Especially on my side.

Renee Black

no, no,

Renee Black

no, No regrets for, you know.

Renee Black

I would do it all over again. Yeah. I wish I could give more. I wish I could do more. I wish there's part of me that I could give to someone else.

Renee Black

I get It almost makes me sad that, you know, I can't give something else to someone else.

Pat McCalla

if I. If I summed up what we've talked about today, I think, again, it goes back to the power of making the choice of simply saying yes to God.

Pat McCalla

Like,

Pat McCalla

reason that you two are sitting here with me in the story today is, is that's what happened. And it's a great reminder for for me, for our audience that given enough time, we will not regret those times when we say yes to God right. And that's the and God has given us the power and complexity of human choice.

Pat McCalla

He's given us the choice of not saying yes.

Renee Black

Yep,

Nino DiGiulio

that? Absolutely.

Renee Black

absolutely.

Nino DiGiulio

I mean, so many things. Like Renee said, you know, she was traveling long before any of this.

Nino DiGiulio

I mean, it would have been easy for me to be off that day and not and she'd not see my truck know I could have not been on the phone in the truck. So God had a plan and he

Nino DiGiulio

let us follow it.

Pat McCalla

Yeah,

Renee Black

The details, I think you know

Renee Black

Every little detail, the moments that the time frame that I if you don't believe, I hope you do now. Yeah, for

Pat McCalla

for sure. And that's what's so

Pat McCalla

fascinating about the story. And that's what you were doing, Rene, is you're backing us up like even your story to be in that that community that day, you have to back up years to you and your husband making that decision that we're going to step away from these jobs

Renee Black

Yeah,

Renee Black

years? Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah, yeah.

Pat McCalla

Well, how can someone get a hold of you? For one thing, you both said that you would love to share your story more and take this opportunity to share it more. So if our listeners wanted to get a hold of you, how would they do that?

Nino DiGiulio

So God in my heart, in my life, God's told me to share the story with that any way I can. And Rene has agreed to do that with me. So we'd like to do some speaking engagements just to share the story, and it might open up someone's eyes and heart to also step forward. Best way to reach me.

Nino DiGiulio

They can either call me or send me an email

Nino DiGiulio

Nino DiGiulio

you can use my personal email. Nino underscored to Julio at Yahoo so and I and o underscore d i g i you LIGO at Yahoo! It's a mouthful.

Nino DiGiulio

don't swerve

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

we drop this podcast, our information will be there for them. How would they get ahold of you, Renee,

Renee Black

Renee Black

Pat McCalla

I would really encourage our audience if they know of opportunities.

Pat McCalla

I've zero doubt that they have been motivated and encouraged,

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah,

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah. Don't hesitate. Reach out. Reach out. Yes. I'd love to talk to you if you have

Nino DiGiulio

other issues going on that I could help with, I would love to just be there for someone.

Renee Black

Yeah,

Renee Black

yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah. Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah,

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah I had a

Nino DiGiulio

I had a lady reach out to me not too long ago

Nino DiGiulio

she sent me an email. She said, I saw your story on the news. My husband needs a kidney and he's really depressed. Would you mind giving him a call? And I jumped on the phone immediately and I said something up too to speak to him, and she called me back.

Nino DiGiulio

After a couple of days, I said, Thank you so much for reaching out to my husband. So things like that. Even if someone is feeling like that, just reach out.

Renee Black

And if you have questions too, just about how do you go about this? How do you what testing is involved, what you know, there is a lot that goes into it as far as being healthy.

Renee Black

You know, like you really are limited, you know, and I joke around about it a lot because, I mean, you can't smoke, you can't drink, you can't use marijuana, you can't have a certain diet. I mean, they ask a lot of things of you to not. And he's like,

Nino DiGiulio

well, none of my friends require one one mine are from my from just gave me the list of things that don't qualify.

Nino DiGiulio

I said man you've eliminated a lot of the people I know.

Renee Black

So you

Renee Black

on?

Nino DiGiulio

door. Yeah. Yeah.

Renee Black

Yeah, but

Nino DiGiulio

those. Yeah,

Nino DiGiulio

Well, thank you for having us. Appreciate it.

Pat McCalla

Well, one of the things we do, which is kind of a fun way to end each of our podcasts, we do two truths. In a way. It's ironic because this is called No Gray Areas. I'm going to ask you to lie,

Pat McCalla

I just want you to give me and we'll start with you.

Pat McCalla

Nino. You can give me three statements. Two of them will be truths. One will be a lie. I and our audience have to try to guess which one is a lie. And I want you to know I've been on a pretty good run lately. I've

Nino DiGiulio

Okay.

Pat McCalla

All right.

Nino DiGiulio

So

Nino DiGiulio

I sat in the dug out of a Chicago Cubs game.

Nino DiGiulio

Okay? Once I sat next to Muhammad Ali on an airplane flying to Hawaii. And I've been married three times.

Pat McCalla

All those. Wow.

Pat McCalla

You know, I'm going to go. I'm going to go with the Chicago Cubs is true.

Pat McCalla

That's true. All right.

Pat McCalla

Because I just you just you you look

Renee Black

like.

Nino DiGiulio

got

Pat McCalla

Muhammad Ali sitting next to Muhammad Ali. That's the life

Nino DiGiulio

know.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah, it was. It was crazy. My my father used to work for the Italian airline, Alitalia, and so we got to travel quite a bit for free. And when we would check in, they usually would upgrade us to first class if it was available. Now, today's you can't get any kind of upgrade, but back then there were room, there were seats available.

Nino DiGiulio

So We checked in, they put us in first class. And right next to me was Muhammad Ali. He had two bodyguards in front, two bodyguards in the and he had one row. And so when I sat down, he was like, he is really, really nice. Yeah. So we got to talking a little bit. And I remember getting off of the plane and going down the jetway.

Nino DiGiulio

All the news cameras were like walking backwards to and he, he had me around his arm getting off the plane. So it was really a cool experience.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah. That famous. Yes, it was

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah.

Nino DiGiulio

Yeah. Yeah, we spoke the whole way.

Nino DiGiulio

He was a little nervous. You know, those plastic emergency cards? He

Nino DiGiulio

was going like this the whole flight until it broke in half. Yeah, but he was the champion, and it was incredible.

Pat McCalla

Wow. That's good. All right, you got me.

Renee Black

Renee Black

all right. I know.

Renee Black

okay.

Renee Black

I have 30 tattoos. Okay. I was in the adult entertainment industry, okay? And I was a single mom for 20 years.

Pat McCalla

I'm going to say the tattoos is true because I saw when your sleeve pulled up, you got a lot of tattoos on your arm.

Renee Black

I do.

Renee Black

Nope. No.

Renee Black

Okay.

Renee Black

15? 15. I have 15 tattoos. Yes

Pat McCalla

Well, thanks again, both of you. I really, really appreciate you being here. And I loved hearing your stories, and I really to encourage our audience reach out to

Nino DiGiulio

them. Please do get

Nino DiGiulio

Thank you.

Host

Thank you for tuning in to this compelling episode on the No Gray Areas podcast. If you enjoyed hearing Nino and Rene's inspiring story, please consider leaving us a five star review. Don't forget to like, follow and subscribe to our No Grey Areas podcast YouTube channel for more.