A longtime Trumbull doctor who spent decades saving people's lives, now needs someone to save his.

Dr. Anthony Mongillo was an internist in the Bridgeport area for four decades.

"I enjoyed it. It was more of a ministry than a job," Mongillo said.

Now, instead of days packed with patients, Mongillo spends nine to 11 hours a day getting dialysis at home as he fights stage five kidney failure, also known as end stage renal disease. The 72-year-old needs a kidney transplant. He's on the transplant list, but his doctors at Montefiore Medical Center said that’s a seven- to eight-year wait. Mongillo's best hope is a living kidney donor, which his family has spent the past year and a half searching for. They’ve spread flyers all around Fairfield County, directing people to his page {embed https://nkr.org/efc468} through the National Kidney Registry {embed https://www.kidneyregistry.org/}.

"It’s been very difficult, difficult to see him suffering and getting weaker," his wife, Kathy Kochiss Mongillo, told News 12. “If there’s anyone out there that could help, please do. Please share the word for us.”

Mongillo's health forced him to retire in 2020.

“I had to stop because, you know, medicine is not the type of thing you can do halfway. You either do it all or not. I was working 12-14 hours a day. I just couldn’t keep up the pace,” he explained.

Mongillo was also the medical consultant at Sikorsky Aircraft. But ask him what he's proudest of, and it's not something professional. He raised his son and daughter on his own after their mother died when they were kids.

“My greatest achievement was bringing them up,” Mongillo said, getting emotional.

His daughter now has two little boys of her own, and Mongillo has embraced his role as grandpa.

“They give me tremendous purpose and satisfaction and joy,” he said.

Mongillo wants the chance to see them grow up, too. He also hopes to return medicine in some form if his health improves. But he can’t do that without help.

“It’s difficult because as a physician, I was in the role of helping and doing things. I’m not used to asking for help,” Mongillo told News 12.

To find out if you’re qualified to donate and how to get tested, click here.