Orange dad waiting for kidney transplant has car set on fire

Rod Lonard has end-stage kidney failure and undergoes dialysis treatment three times a week as a result.

Three-and-a-half years ago, he also had his right leg amputated below the knee as a result of a fall.

Despite these setbacks, he always tries to keep his head up.

"I'm still going, that's the main thing," he said.

"My daughter Cienna and my wife Candi are the ones who keep me going."

But between 11pm on July 19 and 12.20am on July 20, they were dealt yet another blow when their Jasper Street home was broken into and a Holden Commodore and Haval SUV were stolen.

Both cars were later found burnt out, the Commodore in Carcoar and the SUV in the Orange Homemaker Centre.

The family woke at midnight to the sound of their cat returning home, but everything "seemed fine" as far as Mr Lonard could tell.

Then at 2.30am, they were once again awoken, this time by the sound of police knocking on their door.

"You feel peed off," Mr Lonard said.

"I'm glad it was just the cars that were gone. My greatest fears were if anything happened to Candi and Cienna. That's what you don't want.

"Cars are replaceable, people aren't."

The crime wave continued across the Central West that night, with police linking a fail-to-pay at a service station on Molong Road, break and enters across Kelso and Molong as well as a cop car being rammed into.

As for Mr Lonard, he will now be reliant on his wife to take him to and from dialysis appointments as well as work, for the foreseeable future with the car they were able to obtain through her insurance.

"There's a bit of messing around now," he added.

But the main thing he worries about is what if he were to get the call that a kidney transplant was ready for him and he was unable to get there in time.

"If I got the phone call at 2am, I walk out the door and all of a sudden you have no car, how are you going to get there ASAP," he said.

"I'm not the only one who's on the transplant list either. They're putting lives in jeopardy."

Two stolen cars were recovered on the morning on July 20, but unfortunately for the Lonards, neither of them were theirs.

"If they want to go for a joyride, go for a joyride, but just leave the thing there," Mr Lonard added.

"It could be 50kms away, but just leave the car there so we can still pick it up and drive it."

No arrests have been made in relation to the crimes.

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