Carl John Bedigian Risk-Taker Saved Lives

As a Donor and Firefighter Carl Bedigian was a giver-and a risk-taker. About six years ago, Bedigian donated bone marrow for a child in either Italy or Greece who had leukemia, his wife, Michelle, recalled. "The child is still alive," she said. She hadn't remembered the donation until she was asked for a DNA sample to possibly help identify Bedigian, whose team from Engine 214 from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, was believed to be between the two World Trade Center towers before the collapse following the attacks on Sept. 11. "I remembered there was tissue at home." Bedigian, 35, was born in Jamaica and grew up in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. He attended St. Cecelia's grammar school and Thomas Edison High School. After graduation, he worked as an electrician for the Transit Authority for 12 years, and about seven years ago, became a firefighter, assigned to Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He and Michelle were married a year ago in Sacred Heart Church in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., and were looking for a home in that area. Michelle Bedigian said that her husband was committed to firefighting. "He had contracted a virus that left him temporarily paralyzed a few years ago, and he had to retake the firefighter's exam to be re-admitted to the department." A week after the terrorist attack, Michelle met with some of the firefighters who knew her husband. "I told them that all you guys are gamblers, and the odds are always against you. But you still do it. I'm not giving up hope." --Steve Zipay (Newsday)

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