4 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 12, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
North Shore Towers resident in need of liver donor
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
North Shore Towers resident Martin
Schwartzman is fi ghting an internal battle
against an autoimmune disease that has
prompted him to seek a partial liver transplant
from a living donor.
Schwartzman, 63, was diagnosed in
2016 with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
(PSC), which is a disease of the bile ducts
that carries digestive liquid bile from the
liver to the small intestines.
According to WebMD, in PSC, infl ammation
causes scars within the bile ducts.
Th ese scars make the ducts hard and narrow
and gradually cause serious liver
damage.
In most people, the disease progresses
slowly. It can eventually lead to liver
failure, repeated infections, and tumors
of the bile ducts or liver. According to
WebMD, a liver transplant is the only
known cure for advanced PSC.
Schwartzman has been searching for
a living donor with Type O Blood since
June, he said. His condition has progressed
to the point where his liver
is permanently damaged and his only
hope for long-term survival is a living
donor.
“I’ve had a few people and most have
been women, but with women the liver
isn’t big enough or in some cases, their
liver is too vascular,” Schwartzman said.
A living-donor transplant is a surgical
procedure in which a portion of the
liver from a healthy person is placed into
someone whose liver is no longer working
properly. According to Schwartzman,
the donor’s remaining liver will re-grow
and return to its normal size and capacity
shortly aft er the surgery and the transplanted
version will grow and restore normal
function in the recipient.
“A living donor is better because there’s
no trauma,” Schwartzman said. “Some
people go to other states, and if I want
to try to get a deceased donor, I’d have to
think about probably going to Arizona.”
Schwartzman’s diagnosis
took a deep turn for
the worst in the
last year or so,
he said. His
symptoms
include unbearable itching unable to sleep
at night, fatigue and bloating of the belly.
“I’m up every hour or two every night
scratching my arms and legs. When the
bile backs up in my system, the bile
salts cause itching and it’s in the skin,”
Schwartzman said. “I’ve lost a lot of
weight and muscle mass. I’m so much
thin- ner and not as strong as I
used to be.”
S chwa r t zman’s
schedule includes
seeing a list of doctors.
He goes to
NYU Langone
Hospital twice a
week for plasma
infusions to drain
the bile and fi lter his
blood, which helps
to relieve the
itching.
H e
also goes twice a week to a dermatologist
for UV light treatment followed by a regular
checkup with other doctors.
When Schwartzman found out he was
diagnosed with the disease, he was terrifi
ed of the thought of having to do a liver
transplant.
“I told my doctor I can’t wait to get this
done,” Schwartzman said. “Th ey told me if
I fi nd a living donor, it should be successful
and I can live a normal life.”
For Schwartzman, a liver transplant will
help save his life and the ability to continue
caring for his 27-year-old son, Robby,
who has autism.
“My wife passed away 10 years ago and
it was pretty traumatic for my children,
and my son is upset now seeing me sick,”
Schwartzman said. “I believe I have a lot
more things to do in this world.”
Between his doctor’s appointments,
Schwartzman keeps busy by doing consulting
work from home and is the treasurer
of North Shore Towers.
Schwartzman is in relatively good
health, but he’s desperate to fi nd a living
donor (male or female) with Type O
Blood.
“When it comes down to it, the anatomy
has to be right, so the doctor can get
the piece they want without harm or risk
to the donor,” Schwartzman said.
Two Queens legislators hope for absentee ballot boost
BY JACOB KAYE
jkaye@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e political future of two Queens lawmakers
hangs in the balance as the Board
of Elections begins counting absentee ballots
this week in the borough.
Congressman Tom Suozzi and
Assemblyman Edward Braunstein
both entered the week trailing against
Republican challengers. Th e fi nal fate of
the races will be determined in the next
few weeks as the city’s Board of Elections
counts the absentee ballots, a process that
began in Queens on Monday, Nov. 9.
Suozzi currently trails Republican
George Santos by a little more than 4,171
votes in the race to represent the Th ird
Congressional District.
Th e incumbent, hoping for his third
term in Congress, expressed his confi -
dence in the race on Monday, assuring his
supporters that once the absentee ballots
are counted, he will be victorious.
“We will win. It will take two weeks,”
Suozzi said in an email to his supporters.
Despite the current tally, Suozzi, hoping
for a Joe Biden-style comeback in
the count, has some reason to be confi -
dent. Of the approximately 98,000 mailin
ballots cast in the district, which covers
parts of Queens, Nassau County and
Suff olk County, about 52 percent of them
were cast by registered Democrats, a total
that accounts for around 25 percent of the
overall vote. Republican voters accounted
for around 19 percent of the absentee
ballots.
On Election Day, Suozzi suff ered in
Long Island, losing by approximately
1,500 votes in Nassau and by 6,005
votes in Suff olk. Th e absentee ballot count
in Nassau was scheduled to begin on
Wednesday, Nov. 11, and in Suff olk on
Monday, Nov. 16.
Despite leading in the count, Santos, a
Jackson Heights native, has taken to social
media to cast doubt on the counting process.
Providing no evidence, the challenger
claimed his campaign had been “fl ooded
with reports of irregularities.”
Both Santos and Suozzi have withheld
from declaring themselves winners of the
race. Santos, like Suozzi, is confi dent that
once the votes are counted, the he will be
named the winner.
“Our campaign was considered by
many as the underdog in this race to
beat a career politician like Tom Suozzi,
yet here we are,” Santos said in a statement.
“Once all the ballots are counted,
we remain confi dent that we will maintain
our lead and fi nally unseat Rep. Suozzi.
As the responsible candidate in the race,
I will not declare victory until every vote
is counted. In democracy you cannot just
declare yourself the victor, it is up to the
people, and on election day, the people of
my district gave a clear repudiation of the
job Tom Suozzi has done in Congress.”
Much like Suozzi, Democratic incumbent
Edward Braunstein trails in the current
count in his Assembly race against
Republican challenger John-Alexander
Sakelos.
As the count stands, Sakelos has
received 19,599 votes, while Braunstein
has received 17,808, giving the Republican
a 1,791-vote lead in Assembly District 26,
which covers Auburndale, Bay Terrace,
Bayside, Bayside Hills, Broadway-
Flushing, Douglaston, Floral Park, Glen
Oaks, Little Neck, New Hyde Park, North
Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens and
Whitestone.
“We’re really confi dent that even when
all the absentee ballots are counted, we’re
going to maintain our lead,” Sakelos said
on Monday.
Mathematically, Braunstein, who
has served in the state Assembly since
2011, has a solid shot at coming back
in the count once all the absentee ballots
from the district are counted. Of the
over 15,300 absentee ballots returned in
the district, 9,660 were cast by registered
Democrats, while around 1,800 were cast
by registered Republicans.
“Once the thousands of Democrats
have their votes counted and their voices
heard, we are confi dent Edward
Braunstein will be returning to the
Assembly,” Braunstein’s campaign said in
a statement last week.
While the city’s Board of Elections used
Monday to take care of administrative
tasks in preparation for the absentee ballot
count, the vote tally began in earnest
on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Th e Board of
Elections in Queens began counting ballots
in the 23rd, 28th, 29th and 30th
Assembly Districts.
At the end of each day of counting, the
Board of Elections will announce which
districts will be counted the following day.
Martin Schwartzman
File photo by Dean Moses
/WWW.QNS.COM
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