BY JOHN A. DARNELL JR.
      associate editor
      Christmas came a bit late when considering a $1700 donation Mr. Darby’s gave to the Clarence R. Smith Jr. Wellness Center last week.
      The vintage antique emporium raised the money late last year from the from a holiday basket sale, and unfortunately the donation couldn’t be made until nine months later because Mr. Darby’s owner Robert Neapolitan, 63, has been battling diabetes for most of his life and more recently he has been fighting kidney failure.
      Neapolitan started collecting old beer cans when he was only 12-years-old and his fascination with collecting old stuff led to opening Mr. Darby’s 12 years ago at a store in North Lima. He moved his business to the corner of Western Reserve Rd. in Boardman five years later, and then two years ago moved to Boardman Centre where the business has flourished.
      His family is rooted in the history of the Boardman Fire Department. Neapolitan’s grandfather, his father and three uncles were all members of BFD in its formative years.
      Despite his success as a businessman Neapolitan often has had to step back from its daily operation due to his kidney issues.
      When he made the donation to the Smith Wellness Center last week, he had spent the previous two nights in a hospital emergency room coping with issues caused by his failing kidneys.
      Much of his problems are caused because his condition limits the medication he can take, and dialysis treatments have been ruled out due to concerns with calcification in his blood system.
      Neapolitan has been on a kidney transplant list for two and a half years. During that time only once was he hopeful a donor may have been found, but, as he says, a hospital kidney coordinator lost needed paperwork for the transplant and he was passed by.
      “I am anemic now and my body isn’t producing needed red blood cells. I become weaker and weaker,” he said.
      Despite his condition, Neapolitan’s business success at his Boardman Centre location has allowed he and his wife, Karen, to provide support for not only the Smith Wellness Center, but other causes. Most recently Mr. Darby’s hosted two tent sales to raise funds for Animal Charity.
      “I have been lucky to find a wife who shares my passion for collecting and selling old stuff. With what success we have had, we feel an obligation to give back to our community,” Neapolitan said.
      He and Karen, his wife of 34 years, have two dogs, Roxy and Meeka, both rescues from Animal Charity.
      “They provide comfort over and over during the hard times I have with my health. And Animal Charity helps so many dogs find a home. We do anything we can to help,” he said, noting “some days it’s even hard for me to walk, or breathe, and Meeka has even come with me to emergency.”
      Last week during a check presentation at the Smith Wellness Center, Neapolitan and his wife toured the facility in Boardman, designed as a meeting place and a site for first responders from Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull Counties.
      “We were amazed. It is an oasis that will help a lot of people.
      On the site there is a fountain that spews running water.
      “That running water was certainly soothing, especially since I had trouble walking and breathing. I can only imagine a first responder sitting by it a letting his troubles wash away listening to it.”
      Neapolitan is in dire need of a kidney transplant. As he has helped others, he is hopeful someone, somewhere can donate a kidney to him. He is now medically considered 100 per cent disabled.
      Recently he has received counsel and words of encouragement from former Boardman Township Administrator Jason Loree, who magically received a kidney transplant last year.
      Loree advised Neapolitan he is at the point he needs to be open and ask for help.
      “You never know,” Loree said. “When I brought my kidney issues public, I luckily had offers of a new kidney from two people. Maybe someone is out there who can help Bob.”
      Neapolitan said his wife and especially his two children, Alec and Jennifer, and two grandchildren, Sawyer and Hudson keep him going while battling his kidney issues.
      “I want to make them proud,” he says, adding his fight for life is kept alive by his wife.
      Anyone wishing to become a kidney donor can contact Neapolitan at Mr. Darby’s, or contact the Cleveland Clinic (216-445-3150) to express their donor desires.
      Neapolitan can be reached at 330-559-7776.
     
      PICTURED: PICTURED AT THE Smith Wellness Center last week are Robert and Karen Neapolitan.