Public Employee Press

Giving the gift of life

A well-attended forum on March 23, “The Ultimate Charitable Act,” informed DC 37 members about opportunities to participate in the organ donor program — the gift that keeps on giving.

Sponsored by the union’s Health and Nutrition Committee, the program featured speakers who discussed the decisions involved in signing up to become a donor.

Organ recipients shared their moving stories and explained what the gift of life meant to them and their families. Local 2627 member Steve Feldheim, a Computer Specialist for the Dept. of Information Technology and Telecommunications, spent four months in the hospital, fighting for oxygen and facing certain death as his heart weakened. On May 30, 2000, the 25-year civil servant received a heart from a 16-year-old girl.

“I had an incredible recovery and was out of the hospital in eight days,” he said. “By the ninth or 10th day, I was walking a couple of miles in Prospect Park and by August I was playing softball.”

Feldheim competes in the Transplant Games — an Olympics for organ recipients. His wife, Marilyn Shore, who works for the City Planning Dept., and his four children are also the beneficiaries of a stranger’s generosity.

“There is a great need for organ donors,” said Feldheim, who was planning to join other recipients on a bus trip to Albany to meet with legislators about the need to promote the program.

Kathy Dwyer spoke on behalf of the New York Organ Donor Network and explained that the New York State Donate Life Organ and Tissue Donor Registry simplifies the process of enrolling. The form is available online at www.DonateLifeNY.org/enroll/enroll.html.

“I listened to each of the organ recipients. These folks have been given a second and third chance at life,” said Health Committee Chair Michelle Keller, who hopes more DC 37 members will enroll.