Township Woman Honored For Organ Donation

Jefferson resident Mary DiNardo recently won an award she probably would have preferred to have never received.

DiNardo won the Ray of Hope award from the New Jersey Sharing Network. She made the decision to donate her husband MarcAnthony’s organs, tissue and bones. Three New Jersey residents are alive because of MarcAnthony DiNardo’s heart and kidneys, and according to the New Jersey Sharing Network, “countless others benefitted from the gift of tissue donation.”

MarcAnthony DiNardo was a Jersey City police officer killed after a shoot-out in July 2009.

“Three days after the shoot-out happened, he was declared brain dead,” DiNardo recalled. “While he’d never gotten around to registering as an organ donor, I know it’s what he would have wanted.”

MarcAnthony was kept on life support for two more days after he was declared brain dead so that recipients could be found. At that point his heart and kidneys were viable, but not his lungs, as he had been on oxygen for too long. Because the shots came to his face, nothing above his neck could be donated. But doctors could, and did, use his tissue and bones.

“I donated everything that would be useful to anyone else,” DiNardo said. “I had no idea of the things they can do with tissue and bones. You always see the shows on t.v. where doctors are rushing around with a heart in a cooler. But there’s so much more that can be done.”

While DiNardo has not yet met any of the recipients of her husband’s organs, she said she is ready and willing to do so at any time. As far as she knows, all three are alive and thriving.

“I received a letter from the heart recipient. He is a father and a grandfather, and expressed his gratitude,” she said. “He says he is ready to meet, but I’m not sure he really is. I can imagine it must be difficult for him. He must feel such joy, but also guilt.”

DiNardo, who lives in the Oak Ridge section of the township with her three children, said that because of her work with the Sharing Network, she hears from many people about organ donation. One of the biggest concerns she hears is of people worried that if they come into an ER, doctors may not try to save them because they feel that organs might help others more.

“I tell people that doctors are there to save their lives. That’s their job. They aren’t thinking of the organs, but of saving the person in their care.”