Dec 25, 2007 10:33 am US/Eastern
Holiday Hero: N.Y. Man Gives The Gift Of Life
Wedding Manager Donates Kidney To Former Client
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
Rick Bellando (left) donated one of his kidneys to Matthew Fulgieri (right), providing him with the gift of life this holiday season.
CBS
Matthew Fulgieri never dreamed he'd be healthy enough to be holding and kissing his youngest son, Evan, this Christmas.
That's until Rick Bellando, who was at one point practically a complete stranger to Fulgieri, donated his kidney.
Belland works at Oheka Castle, a massive hotel on a 23-acre estate in Huntington, where he met Fulgieri nearly five years ago, when he booked his wedding there.
While Fulgieri's wedding was beautiful, he was battling an ugly kidney disease that had devastated his family -- killing his mother, grandmother, and most recently someone else who was extremely close with him.
"I have a brother who just passed away in October of this year who had lost his kidney function as well, a month prior," said Fulgieri.
Fulgieri desperately needed a kidney transplant, but when Bellando offered to get tested for a match, Fulgieri tried to convince him not to do it.
"The reason I gave him, which I thought was a very valid reason, was that he has three girls and a wife, but more importantly his two little girls were 2 and 4 at the time," he said.
But Bellando wasn't convinced. Fulgieri's condition continued to weigh down his thoughts.
"I was actually reading my girls a little book and I realized his kids might not be that fortunate in years to come, and I told my wife that night I'm going to get tested and I want to be the one to give him the kidney," he recalled.
Just last month Bellando underwent surgery for the first time in his life to save his new friend's life.
"For a while I couldn't look at Rick. I would see him and I would cry, I would talk to him and I would cry," said Fulgieri's wife, Mamie.
"It's very easy. There's some testing that's involved, but you come out of it, a week goes by and you don't even realized it happened," said Bellando.
Fulgieri and Bellando are now like brothers, their wives like sisters, and their hope is that more people will help save lives through organ donation.
Nationwide, more than 100,000 people need organ transplants, and 6,000 die every year waiting for them.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
