Marrow recipients to meet FDNY donors
THE E-MAILmessage poppedupon Mike Wilson's phone in January: “Thank you, thank you, thank you. Because of you, I’m still alive.”
Wilson, an FDNY firefighter since 2003, donated bone marrow in 2010, and recently learned that his generosity gave a single mom with leukemia the chance to see her daughter grow to adulthood. “Without him, I feel like, yeah, I wouldn’t be here,” said Amy Alcorn, 47, of Erie, Pa.
On Friday, Wilson and another firefighter, Fredrick Perdue, will meet the people they saved, through the Be The Match Registry.
Alcorn was diagnosed with acute myeloidleukemia in 2010 — the same year her mother died. Alcorn’s daugh- ter, Chelcie, was 14 then.
“If I wouldn't have had a match that year, she potentially could have buried her mom and her grandmother in the same year,” Alcorn said.
Wilson, 36, of Ladder 166 in Coney Island also played the hero in 2006 when he rescued an autistic child from a blaze. He and Alcorn have spoken on the phone and exchanged emails. “I guess you could say I was just happy to know that I really helped her, and she made it through all the problems that she was having,” he said.
Jonathan Lamont Ragland, 35, still hasn't met Perdue, his donor — he just knows the marrow belonged to a New York City firefighter.
Ragland was 16 when diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia, a rare chronic blood disorder. In 2013, he learned he had leukemia.
Perdue, 46, of Engine 67 in Washington Heights, signed up to be donor 20 years ago and was surprised the registry kept track of him. “They told me that I’m a possible match, I was like, wow,” he said.