The Nicholas Effect
A seven year-old boy from California, Nicholas Green, was killed by highway robbers in 1994 while vacationing in Italy with his family. His parents agreed to donate his organs and corneas, which went to seven Italians waiting for transplants. Reg and Maggie Green spoke openly to the media, with no bitterness, about their loss and decision. The world took the story--and the Greens--to its heart. Organ donations in Italy have tripled since Nicholas was killed so that thousands of people are alive who would have died.
The world's response to the Green's personal tragedy is called "the Nicholas effect." No matter their nationality or calling, people respond from the heart--presidents, movie stars, schoolchildren, grandmothers, Boy scouts, soccer players, surgeons, and organ recipients. Organ donor cards are signed. Poems are written, pictures painted, parks dedicated, scholarships established, medals given, children hugged.
Contact
➤ LOCATION
The Nicholas Green Foundation
5701 Alder Ridge Dr
La Cañada, CA 91011
☎ CONTACT
rfdgreen@gmail.com
(818) 952-2095
An Open Letter
After taking me to dinner at the famous Cesarina restaurant in Rome the other night – once the second home of Federico Fellini and Marcello Mastroianni – my host, a renowned transplant surgeon, told the maitre d' that I was the father of an American boy who was shot in an attempted carjacking on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria autostrada and whose organs were donated to seven Italians, four of them teenagers. "Ah, Nicholas Green," came the reply and as we shook hands I saw tears in his eyes.
Una Lettera Aperta
Dopo avermi portato a cena nel famoso ristorante Cesarina a Roma, qualche sera fa – una volta seconda casa di Federico Fellini e Marcello Mastroianni – il mio anfitrione, un rinomato chirurgo dei trapianti, ha raccontato al maître che io ero il padre del bambino Americano che era stato ucciso sull'Autostrada Salerno-Reggio Calabria e i cui organi erano stati donati a sette Italiani, quattro dei quali adolescenti. "Ah, Nicholas Green," ha risposto lui, e mentre ci stringevamo la mano, ho visto delle lacrime nei suoi occhi.