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NORTH CHARLESTON − Police officer Jonathan Donnelly opened up about his struggles with chronic kidney disease and the support he has received from his fellow officers.

Deputy Chief Scott Perry introduced Donnelly as someone "committed to serving the community."

"He's a humble, kind person and he needs his community," Perry said at an Aug. 22 news conference. "It's hard for him to come out here. I'm very proud of him because a lot of time — officers are great at helping people and they're great at solving problems, but often a lot of times they're not good at asking for help."

He added that he and the department want to help him with his struggle.

Donnelly was diagnosed in 2022 with chronic kidney disease. On the GoFundMe page set up by his wife, Alissa, she wrote that he was diagnosed with the stage 3 of the disease in January of that year.

Donnelly currently is at stage 5, he said, and has begun dialysis while he awaits a kidney transplant. He described the physical toll of dialysis treatments.

"They talked about the (peritoneal dialysis), which is the dialysis that I'm on at home, is supposed to make you feel better and stuff," he said. "But it's very difficult to sleep. It puts about 3 pounds of fluid in your body, and when you're sleeping, you're uncomfortable."

He added that when he drains the fluid in the morning, he feels even more exhausted despite doctors saying he'd be able to go to work.

"It's a drain on your body because the fluids in your stomach are acting as an artificial pancreas, so it's sucking all the fluid through your body — the excess fluid in your body that your kidneys normally filter out," Donnelly said. "It's doing that all in about eight to 10 hours of time, that your body does all day."

Donnelly, who has been on medical leave from the department since March, said knows the toll on his family has been tough, as well.

"My daughters are 4 and 2 years old, so they really don't understand everything that's going on," he said. "But still, they enjoy their time with me a little bit — I'm home more often."

He noted that being a father has "changed his life" and his perspective of things, and he hopes his children do not have to experience kidney disease in the future.

Deciding to speak out about his diagnosis was difficult for him because he is "a very private person."

"However, I think that it needs to be brought to light more because, as I've had kidney disease, I learned there's a lot of people with kidney disease, and it's actually a very prevalent issue in our nation today," Donnelly said.

He is on the national waitlist for kidney transplants but has yet to find a match. The GoFundMe says he has been on the waitlist since March 2023. One key factor to finding a match is blood type. Donnelly said his blood type is B positive, adding that multiple family members have tried to donate but their blood types did not match.

According to the Transplant Center at the University of California, Davis, people with type B blood can receive transplants from others with B-type blood and those with O-type blood, which is considered the universal donor type.

Another factor is tissue matching, according to the center. Each person has six "antigens" inherited from their parents that are vital in the transplant process. The center's website says that a match of all six of these cell proteins is rare, and successful transplants can be made between people with no matching antigens.

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The center notes that humans can also produce antibodies against others' antigens, common causes of which include blood transfusions, infections and pregnancy. If these antibodies are too high against a donor's antigens, the transplant would likely be unsuccessful.

Kidney transplants can come from both living and deceased donors, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Kidneys from deceased donors usually last eight to 12 years, and those from living donors last 15 to 20 years. The foundation notes that transplants can last for longer or less than these spans.

Another significant issue for kidney transplants is the cost. The average cost for a kidney transplant in 2020 was $442,500, which includes the cost for the surgery and transplant-related medicines, according to a 2021 medical journal article from doctors at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Cristy Malone, a transplant social worker at the Medical University of South Carolina, said that transplant estimates she has seen often range between $400,000 and $500,000 before insurance.

Malone said that the out-of-pocket cost depends on what insurance people have.

"It's kind of hard to say since everyone has different insurances − a different primary, a different secondary," she said. "But for surgeries, whether it's a living donor or cadaver situation, the surgery is billed to the insurance, and then the patient gets the bill from the hospital."

She said standard coverage Medicare, for example, covers 80 percent of the costs for dialysis and transplants alike. For dialysis, this would take the form of a 20 percent copay at the clinic if the patient did not have secondary insurance, she said.

For a $450,000 kidney transplant, the 80 percent covered by Medicare would leave a $90,000 bill for the organ recipient.

Malone said people with kidney disease who are concerned about the cost of treatment should contact their insurance company for more precise estimates.

"We (at MUSC) always work with individuals with our billing department because certainly we don't expect anyone to have that amount ready to spend after the surgery, considering loss of wages and they're going to be out of work," she said. "So a lot of people set up monthly payment plans."

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Donnelly said that he hopes sharing his story will have a positive impact.

"Help out your neighbors or family members or anybody you know," he said. "I know when I get through this, I'm going to try to put events together to raise more awareness."

Donnelly said he greatly appreciates the support his coworkers and community in his fight.

"Deputy Chief Perry checks on me on a daily basis. My lieutenants checked on me on a daily basis. My teammates still check on me on a daily basis," he said. "When I joined this department, I knew that, kind of like the military, it's a brotherhood."

The GoFundMe for Donnelly has raised over $20,300 as of Aug. 23. You can read more about Donnelly or donate to the campaign at bit.ly/3Xhpf4I.

This story has been changed to correct the spelling of a name.

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A Moncks Corner woman with a six-figure salary used a locally owned business as her personal charge card, feasting on meal deliveries and lavishing herself for years with items ranging from star-gazing telescopes to beauty products.

U.S. District Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks sentenced Christina Soda, 54, to 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for stealing almost $1 million from her longtime North Charleston employer. Soda was charged in December with pilfering $966,368.98 from Wholesale Industrial Electronics Inc. over a seven-year period. As the company's comptroller, Soda had access to its American Express card and bookkeeping software.

Soda pleaded not guilty in January on six counts of wire fraud. In May, she accepted a plea deal for one count of wire fraud.

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Soda initially denied the wire fraud scheme, standing stoic before a federal magistrate judge who gave her bond, The Post and Courier reported. Months later, she sobbed and pleaded for a sentence below federal guidelines.

Soda recounted childhood traumas. Her hardships didn't end at adulthood, she said. She told the judge she was the daughter of Argentinian immigrants, a scientist and a teacher, and that she volunteered with the American Red Cross, Uplift Charleston and the Charleston Water Mission.

Soda said she knew her actions nearly destroyed a company and ruined people's lives.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Bower asked for up to 33 months in prison.

"What we have here today is a tragedy — a tragedy on both sides," the judge said during an Aug. 22 hearing.

Hendricks said she thought Soda was remorseful. But, she said, the length of the fraud, its systematic nature and her attempts to cover up her "ill-gotten gains" warranted prison time.

"It goes to show you it doesn't pay to steal," Hendricks said.

Soda won't report to prison until after Christmas. She will need to pay back $966,368.98 to her former employer without interest.

Bower said it's unlikely Soda will ever be able to pay back the full amount, but she will not be eligible for a restitution reduction.

"We believe the sentence is appropriate and it sends a message of deterrence that if employees steal from their employers they will be held accountable," Bower said.

The Wholesale Industrial Electronics executive who discovered Soda's fraud and theft said he does not expect her to pay the company back in full.

Johnny Sanders, chief operating officer of the 75-year-old company, said he wanted Soda to serve as an example to other employees who might steal from their employers.

"I don't expect a penny," he said. "I wanted her to be punished."

Sanders accidentally discovered the thefts in early September 2022. He had sent Soda home early for the day one Friday because of a family emergency. Another employee approached him about strange transactions on a credit card statement, he said. Normally, that was a question that he deferred to Soda, whom the company leadership had complete trust in, he said. He later learned that other employees didn't voice suspicions because Soda threatened she would have Sanders fire them.

"I chased every single transaction," he said.

Soda's family emergency led to the discovery of the theft, he said.

"If she had been there, she would still be doing it today," he said.

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"She wasn't thinking about anyone else. She would sit there and belittle someone over a mistake," he said. "Meanwhile, she was stealing $30,000 a month."

Wholesale Industrial Electronics buys bulk products from manufacturers and then sells them to aerospace, automotive and other companies in South Carolina, he said.

She worked for the company for 24 years.

He said he combed through years of American Express bank statements. The scheme involved Soda making personal purchases using the company card. She used the company's reporting system to hide the expenses under fuel and shipping expenses.

The thefts began as early as 2015 with purchases of Staples gift cards and steadily grew. At one point, Soda hid $30,000 worth of purchases a month she made on the company card, he said. She made more than 3,500 purchases on the company's dime, according to prosecutors.

Soda bought telescopes, home furniture, landscaping supplies and beauty products as well as paid for food deliveries. Some credit card statements showed upwards of 50 deliveries through DoorDash or Uber Eats a month, Sanders said. He recalled counting 10 different food delivery orders on a single weekend.

Soda's spending on the company credit card didn't slow down when business did during the COVID-19 pandemic because of global supply chain disruptions, he said. Instead, her spending reached its peak during that time.

The last time she used the company card was the day Sanders fired Soda. She used it to buy more DoorDash, he said.

On that day Sanders, she saw the stack of credit card statements and notes from his lawyer on his desk while he was away on lunch, he said.

Sanders said Soda's theft destroyed the company's value. It took months of working 16-hour days to stabilize the family-owned company that he planned to buy himself one day, he said. The best move became selling the company to AFP Industries, he said.

World Industrial Electronics gave employees bonuses every year based on the company's profits, Sanders said. Soda's fraud indirectly resulted in her coworkers being cheated out of more money, he said.

Sanders said he did not believe she was remorseful.

Defense attorney Peter McCoy told Hendricks that Soda had managed to save about $4,200, which included her 401K, since she was fired in September 2022.

Sanders said Soda made more than $100,000 when she worked for that company as its financial officer. Soda makes half that amount now, according to court records.

Soda said her actions shamed her and "left a terrible stain." She said she faced compounding pressure of her own health, challenges her son faced, loss of her parents and being the sole financial provider in her family. She said she knew Sanders and other Wholesale Industrial Electronics employees didn't need to hear it or care.

"My story doesn't fix anything," she said.

Soda also owes hundreds of thousands to federal and state tax authorities from her fraud. A lien has been placed on her home in Moncks Corner, she said.

Reach Alan Hovorka at 843-998-9309 or ahovorka@postandcourier.com.

Travelers can expect multi-year construction plan to stay on track

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A master plan to slowly transform the Charleston International Airport is moving at a steady pace.

If you are a frequent flyer, you may be seeing a few changes along International Boulevard beginning Monday. This is because the Charleston Airport Aviation Authority is kicking a long-term expansion plan into action.

“People are not only moving here, they’re wanting to visit. Couple it with the amount of visitors we have, with the new business happening in Charleston, the expansion of large industry sectors. It’s a huge economic development push that has happened,” Charleston International Airport CEO Elliott Summey says.

The first phase of construction will add a new parking garage and a rental car pavilion reaching 5,700 parking spaces. The authority aims to have it finished within three years.

Crews are also adjusting the airfield to provide better parking for airlines.

The cost of this portion sits around $320 million.

The project would also create a new six-gate concourse on the east side of the airport, sitting around $500 million and four new gates to the west equaling $75 million.

The authority says much of the funding comes from federal budget earmarks, but not every part of the plan is fully covered yet.

“Going from 22 nonstop cities to 69 nonstop destinations. We’ve seen airfares lower because of the competitive tension we’ve created amongst the airlines. This expansion is desperately needed,” Summey says.

The airport saw more than six million travelers come through the tarmac this year alone. In 2019, they saw around four million.

Dallas native Kindal Sauter is in town for her bachelorette and agrees there is a need to match airport size with the hike in population.

“They’ve grown in popularity, have a lot more people coming and visiting,” Sauter says. “The second time being here, I think there’s definitely opportunity for the airport to grow, give more restaurants, more things for people to kind of enjoy while they’re here and make things more comfortable.”

The authority says they are still on track to have the concourses and parking completed within a five-year span, which would make it 2027.

“We hope when we are done with this, it’s something the entire state of South Carolina can be proud of. When you land in Charleston, you know you’re in Charleston,” Summey says.

What travelers should expect

Monday evening, Charleston International Airport will begin its Parking Garage 3 project, with modifications coming to improve operations at the airport.

The beginning of work will take place over the course of three nights.

The first evening, the west entry of the traffic circle will be closed, meaning motorists must make a U-turn or turn right onto Dreamliner Drive at the intersection of International and Porsche Boulevards in order to access the terminal.

Over the following nights, concrete barriers will be installed along the loop road. A temporary road leading to the daily deck ticketing booth will be constructed.

Wednesday night, the contractor, Whiting-Turner, will block off the remaining sections of the traffic circle, so passenger and rental car traffic patterns will need to be reversed.

With these traffic updates, as well as upcoming security lane closures, travelers should plan ahead for extra travel time and follow all posted detours and signage as construction continues.

More updates on the progress and any potential changes to the schedule will be forthcoming as the project continues.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Today, NOAA officials were joined by regional partners to break ground on renovations at the agency’s pier facility in North Charleston, South Carolina. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

In September 2023, NOAA awarded $59.8 million to Manson Construction Company for the renovations. This important infrastructure project is partially funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda — and the historic Inflation Reduction Act — has made it possible for NOAA to renovate this pier facility in North Charleston and make way for more vital climate and ocean research for decades to come,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

“Many of NOAA’s investments in infrastructure over the next several years are made possible because of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “Investing in our shoreside infrastructure helps NOAA meet essential at-sea data collection requirements that support enhanced economic security, public safety and homeland security for many years to come.”

The renovations will include demolishing and building a new pier that includes shoreside power for ships, as well as a warehouse, sea wall, living shoreline and other supporting infrastructure. Reconstruction of the pier and other facility upgrades that support EO 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability. This project will enable NOAA ships Ronald H. Brown and Nancy Foster to have a designated place to dock and better accommodate NOAA research missions in the Atlantic. Both ships are homeported in Charleston.

“This pier and facility are integral to safe and efficient research ship operations in the area,” said NOAA Corps Vice Adm. (select) Nancy Hann, director of NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. “Our ships cannot efficiently complete their critical work without safe and reliable shoreside infrastructure.”

NOAA’s fleet of 15 research and survey ships are operated, managed and maintained by NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations. The fleet ranges from large oceanographic research vessels capable of exploring the world’s deepest ocean, to smaller ships responsible for charting the shallow bays and inlets of the U.S. The vessels support a wide range of marine activities, including fisheries surveys, nautical charting and ocean and climate studies. NOAA ships are operated by NOAA Corps officers and civilian professional mariners.

Climate, weather, and water affect all life on our ocean planet. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict our changing environment, from the deep sea to outer space, and to manage and conserve America’s coastal and marine resources.

Media contacts

David Hall, david.l.hall@noaa.gov, (‪‪301) 427-7761‬

NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations will hold a ceremony to break ground on renovations at the agency’s pier facility in North Charleston, South Carolina.

The renovations will include demolishing and building a new pier that includes shoreside power for ships, as well as a warehouse, sea wall and living shoreline, and other supporting infrastructure. Reconstruction of the pier and other facility upgrades will allow NOAA ships Ronald H. Brown and Nancy Foster to once again have a designated place to dock and better accommodate research missions in the Atlantic. Both ships are homeported in Charleston.

In September 2023, NOAA awarded the contract for this project, which is part of NOAA’s infrastructure investments funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.

WHAT

Groundbreaking ceremony for renovations at NOAA’s pier facility in North Charleston, South Carolina.

WHEN & WHERE

July 30, 9:30 a.m. EDT

NOAA North Charleston Pier Facility 2234 S. Hobson Ave. Charleston, SC 29405

WHO

RSVP

Media interested in attending must email omao.publicaffairs@noaa.gov no later than July 26 to obtain access to this federal facility.

BACKGROUND

NOAA’s fleet of 15 research and survey ships are operated, managed and maintained by NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations. Ranging from large oceanographic research vessels capable of exploring the world’s deepest ocean, to smaller ships responsible for charting the shallow bays and inlets of the U.S. The fleet supports a wide range of marine activities, including fisheries surveys, nautical charting and ocean and climate studies. NOAA ships are operated by NOAA Corps officers and civilian professional mariners.

Climate, weather, and water affect all life on our ocean planet. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict our changing environment, from the deep sea to outer space, and to manage and conserve America’s coastal and marine resources.