Times
Square. Yankee
Stadium. FDNY
headquarters.
A Mississippi
tourist's first trip
to New York will
include all the
regular attractions,
plus an unusual stop
at the downtown
Brooklyn home of the
city's Bravest.
He's going off the
beaten track to say
thanks to a man he's
never met.
Gary Williams, 55,
received a
lifesaving donation
of bone marrow, and
Monday he'll get a
chance to meet the
young firefighter
who selflessly gave
of himself to save a
stranger's life.
"I just hope I
don't...sob and
slobber all over
him," said Williams
with a laugh as he
anticipated the
ceremony at FDNY
headquarters. "It's
going to be a
pretty
exciting deal."
Firefighter Alex
Lee, 27, was in the
Fire Academy in 2005
when he signed up to
donate marrow if the
New York Blood
Center ever found a
match.
Two years later, he
got the call.
Williams, a tractor
technician, had been
diagnosed with
leukemia and was in
desperate need of
stem-cell donations.
"To be honest, I
thought that was the
end of my life,"
said Williams. "I
prayed on it, but I
thought, 'Well, now
I'm going to die.' "
Williams spent two
weeks in an
intensive care unit
before the
transplant.
But the difficult
procedure went well,
much to the delight
of the firefighter
who didn't think
twice about helping.
"I might go 20 years
without pulling
someone out of a
burning building,"
said Lee, who works
at Engine 69 in
Harlem. "But I could
do this now.
"It was really
rewarding and it
feels good," he
said. "It's a very
easy way to help."
Williams said he
grew up a Yankees
fan in tiny Brandon,
Miss., watching the
Bombers' games on
TV.
Thanks to Lee's gift
of life, he was able
to make his first
trip to the ballpark
in the Bronx.
"Mickey Mantle was
my favorite player
growing up and I
just had to buy his
T-shirt," said
Williams. "I've got
a chance to be a kid
again."
jlemire@nydailynews.com
