Giving the gift of life
John Nucci is a success story worth celebrating.
With his kidneys functioning at just 2 percent, the former City Councilor and Suffolk University head of external affairs needed a miracle. In stepped Kerri Abrams.
The 37-year-old florist from Arlington read about Nucci’s plight in the Herald and she’s donating one of her kidneys to Nucci today at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Organ donors are the unsung heroes among us who deserve praise for caring about those in need.
It also gets people talking about donating a heart, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, liver, intestines, corneas, skin, tendons, bones, nerves and heart valves. Yes, all donor eligible.
About 115,000 men, women and children await lifesaving organ transplants.
The sad truth is 8,000 deaths a year are related to the lack of a donor, according to the latest statistics.
Greater Boston is home to some of the greatest medical minds on the planet, yet it takes selfless individuals like Kerri Abrams to save a life sometimes.
Bone marrow and stem cells can also be donated.
Lives are saved, that’s the end result.
“It’s something in the long run that’s not that much of a big deal,” Abrams said of donating her kidney, adding that the doctors have told her that her life will return to normal once she recovers from the operation.
Nucci told the Herald’s Sean Philip Cotter yesterday he wants to use his “second at-bat” at life to speak up for people who need organ donations.
“I’ve pledged to myself, I’ve pledged to Kerri, I’ve pledged to God that I’m going to become an advocate in this,” Nucci said. “I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t use this second chance.”
Maybe someone reading this will save a life. It’s easy ... if you donate.