MEET STEVEN

---

Five to six days a week in the gym for the past forty-three years could never prepare me nor prevent me from the autoimmune disease that has attacked and decimated my kidneys.

I am trying to beat death a third time, the first was when I was in a gun battle, alone, as a police officer, against four men firing at me with machine guns, three of whom were trained by an Islamic terrorist group. This gun battle occurred at a school in session, whereas my protection of all the students and faculty earned me both the Police Combat Cross and the prestigious Medal of Honor. The second time was when I was standing in an intersection at night directing traffic, and a drunk driver barreled toward me from my rear, whereas Officer Mike Sullivan's screams to me had me turn around and jump out of the way in the nick of time before the driver then slammed into two parked cars. Unfortunately, we lost Officer Sullivan a few years later.

This fight, however, unlike the others, is out of my control; I need help from a generous person to win it, and this fight is also the most important, as, unlike prior, I now have a seventeen-year-old son whom I am raising who can continue to use my guidance in furtherance of the important Catholic values I have already instilled in him.

Further, I would like to continue my public service, some of which is my commitment to my beautiful parish of St. Aedan's in Pearl River, NY, where the past thirty-five years of such have been spent as a religion teacher, CCD coordinator, usher, youth counselor, senior altar server at funerals, security officer at masses, and janitor, all volunteer. I would also like to continue my volunteer work as a guest speaker for criminal justice programs, and, where needed, police academies, where I am a certified police academy instructor. My mentoring is extremely beneficial to others, and as 1 Peter 4:10 states, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to help others, as faithful servants of God's grace in its various forms." I am using those gifts to benefit others, and I can tell you that when the great Archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, pens a personal letter to you thanking you for all your work, while also inspiring you to fight and continue, you can't help but feel your life's work is not yet complete. With help, it won't be.

In Christ,

Steven J. Gentile