POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 27, 2009) — When Lynn Forte, a legal assistant in the firm's Poughkeepsie office, told her coworkers in January that her nine-year-old niece needed a kidney transplant to save her life, they knew they had to do something.
Lynn's niece, Gabriella Falzarine, has FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis) and is in end-stage renal failure. The family moved from Highland, New York to South Carolina, unaware that Gabriella's illness was a pre-existing condition not covered by South Carolina's health insurance. They could not schedule surgery unless they could come up with $270,000 in advance.
Then Adrianne Dooley, the firm's receptionist, spoke with her husband, Mike, whose family owns Mahoney's Irish Pub in Poughkeepsie, and a fundraiser was quickly set for January 23, 2009.
Josh Mackey, of counsel to the firm, with Adrianne and legal assistants Caryn Cahill, Stephanie Connolly, Jennifer Angot, Danielle Eloe, Linda Liotta, and Patty Gilmartin, solicited donations and raffle items from local businesses.
The firm's conference room was pressed into service as the place to assemble the 25 gift baskets filled with donated items. Word quickly spread and in only two weeks the fundraiser was held, raising $7,500.
But the good news didn't end there.
While Adrianne and Mike were in a local restaurant asking for a donation, the owner of Friendly Honda overheard them and told them one of his employees had a contact at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital who might know of someone who could help.
Two employees of Friendly Honda attended the fundraiser and told Gabriella's parents that Dr. Mark Hardy, Auchincloss professor of surgery and director emeritus of the transplantation program at Columbia Presbyterian, was willing to do the operation.
The doctors and staff at the hospital have been wonderful and moved Gabriella's case along quickly. After donor testing, it was determined that Gabriella's mother, Diane Falzarine, will be the donor. The surgery should be completed by the end of April.
"We've always known we had a great staff," said Rick Mitchell, Managing Partner of the firm's Poughkeepsie office. "But this was an amazing effort, and the amount of work they did in such a short time is a real testament to their community spirit."