NEW YORK — Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta tomorrow will take part in the 3rd Annual Honor Roll of Life ceremony with New York Blood Center (NYBC) President Dr. Robert L. Jones and Chairman of the NYBC Board of Trustees Howard Milstein. The ceremony honors firefighters who have donated bone marrow to individuals suffering from a variety of cancers or blood disorders.
At the event, Firefighter Stephen Duffy will meet his bone marrow recipient Samantha Alcazar, an 18-year-old woman from Guadalajara, Mexico, and Firefighter Robert O’Neill will meet his recipient, John Deeney, a retired college professor from Dover, Delaware. Additionally, three-time bone marrow donor Captain William Connolly will be reunited with his first recipient, Nancy Johnson, to whom he donated in 1996.
The Department’s “Honor Roll of Life” plaque lists the names of 82 firefighters who have donated bone marrow to individuals diagnosed with a variety of cancers and blood disorders. During the ceremony, all FDNY members who donated bone marrow in 2006 also will have their names added to the plaque. The New York City Fire Department is currently the single largest bone marrow registry group with more than 8,000 firefighters on the list.