PARK RIDGE – As a member of the Park Ridge, NJ Ambulance Corps, Judy Herman “knew of” Park Ridge Firefighter, Mark Eisen, but she didn’t really “get to know” him until she gave him one of her kidneys. The two are now the closest of friends and the perfect example of the importance of living donors. More than 100,000 Americans are waiting for organ transplants in the U.S. – a statistic made worse by the pandemic. The current shortage of donors means 20 people die each day in America waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. Mark is beyond grateful to Judy but Judy is also grateful to Mark because it was through this process that doctors found she had a benign tumor on her spleen that needed to be removed. Mark and Judy may have quite literally saved each others’ lives.