Eric Ulrich Saves a Life, and His Own, Through Liver Donation

By Katie McFadden

Eric Ulrich was a household name around Rockaway as he served as District 32 Councilman from 2009 to 2021. A few months before he finished his last term, he announced he had developed an alcohol problem during the Covid pandemic and began a path to sobriety. By 2022, he was making headlines as a senior advisor to Mayor Eric Adams and then as NYC Buildings commissioner. It was the year Ulrich also made Rockaway his home on Beach 116th Street. But by the end of that year, Ulrich resigned amid an illegal gambling probe. In September 2023, more shocking headlines were made as Ulrich was indicted on five charges of bribery and conspiracy. Last month, a judge dismissed the biggest bribery charge, a story that made a few headlines. But the latest story involving Eric Ulrich is hitting news outlets across the city, in one of his most shocking acts yet. Silencing the noise of his recent controversies and on a path to redemption, over the last nine months, Ulrich has put his focus on one thing—saving the life of another.

“Living donors do it without counting the cost and never look back, and God will reward those who are so generous,” Father Jim Cunningham of St. Francis de Sales told The Rockaway Times. As a recipient of two kidneys from living donors, Father Jim knows exactly how much that sacrifice means to a recipient, and as a religious leader, he has become a source of inspiration and advice for some considering giving the ultimate gift of another chance at life to a fellow human in need. He became that person for Ulrich as he quietly started going through a process to find out if he was a match for an old acquaintance, an act that would ultimately lead to a quick reward from God—saving his own life in the process.

In May 2025, Ozone Park resident, Antonio Blandino’s daughter, Deanna, put out a desperate call to save her father as he was diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis and needed a liver transplant, after his family members were ruled out as qualified donors. As with most people in need of a transplant, the 58-year-old father was put on a list, but time was of the essence as 15-25% of people on the liver transplant list die before they ever get one. So, Deanna put out a plea to ask if anyone was a match for their O+ father.

Ulrich was scrolling through Facebook when he saw the post, and it tugged at his heart strings. “I know Antonio. His family lived down the block from mine in Ozone Park and he and his family were always supportive in my campaigns, we attended the same parish, they were nice people from a very large, civically engaged family,” Ulrich said. “When I saw his daughter posted last May, my heart sank because I know him and his family and the type of person he is and I have a soft spot in my heart as someone who’s been sober for five years, to see someone suffer with cirrhosis who wasn’t an alcoholic, not that those in addiction don’t deserve a second chance, but it’s like the guy who never smokes and winds up with lung cancer.”

So, he clicked on Deanna’s link to learn more information. But it wasn’t until Ulrich ran into Blandino a month later, that he truly understood the toll it was taking on his old friend. “I didn’t think much of it until I ran into him in Carvel in June last year and he looked gray and like he aged 10 years. I told him I saw what his daughter put on Facebook, and I told him I was praying for him. He said, ‘Eric, thank you for your prayers. We’re hoping I can find a donor. I don’t want to be on the list and die waiting. People die on this list and never get the call.’

“This was real for him. I was moved by this, and it was strange because he’s someone I’m not related to and not very close with, but I knew him and his family and I was moved by his daughter’s appeal on social media,” Ulrich said.

After the encounter, Ulrich followed up with the link again and entered his information. The next day, he got a call from Northwell Manhasset with an appointment for a blood test and the process began. Throughout months of testing, Ulrich was asked to keep it confidential for legal and logistical reasons, so he wasn’t able to notify Blandino. He kept the process so confidential that he didn’t even tell his own mother, grandmother or then 12-year-old daughter what he was doing. After all, chances were being a perfect match wouldn’t come to fruition. “Unlike being a living kidney donor where you can give one and live with one, there are more complications with being a match for a liver. Nine out of 10 people who get tested get disqualified for things like high blood pressure, diabetes, you can’t be too fat, too skinny, you can’t be a drinker, smoker, can’t pop gummies, have hypertension, a family history of mental health issues, etc. Most people we know unfortunately probably suffer from one of those health issues or bad habits,” Ulrich explained. He later found that Blandino had 80 people get tested to find out if they were a match, who were disqualified for various reasons. Ulrich was the only qualified match that came forward.

As he went through the process, Ulrich was subjected to an MRI, a CAT scan and various other tests last summer to get the all-clear. The last one was a routine colonoscopy in October. Something that was not routine for then 40-year-old Ulrich, as the recommended age to start being screened is 45. And what came from that test would shake Ulrich to his core and became the ultimate sign from God that what he was doing was meant to be. “I wake up from that colonoscopy and Dr. Robert Brunner tells me, ‘You’re a lucky young man. You did this with good intentions trying to save someone’s life, and I think you saved your own,’” Ulrich recalled. Dr. Brunner had removed a polyp and sent it for a biopsy.

A week later, Ulrich got a call from the doctor who told him it had been a high-grade dysplasia, a pre-cancerous condition that would have eventually put Ulrich in an early grave before he even reached the age for a regular colonoscopy screening. Instead, with the threat removed, Dr. Brunner prescribed him a yearly screening, a message of ‘We saved your life,’ and the sign he needed from God to move forward with donating part of his liver, as he got the go ahead.

“I had asked God for a sign that I was doing this for the right reasons and when I got the call from Dr. Brunner, I knew this was not a coincidence. I did get something in return. I was able to improve my own health and save my own life and that was enough for me,” Ulrich said.

Yet the signs kept coming. “Two weeks go by and I’m at BJs on Erskine the Saturday before Thanksgiving and I see Antonio Blandino and his wife. I hadn’t seen him since June. Very few people knew what I was doing besides Father Jim, my good friend Rockaway attorney Keith Sullivan and my Aunt Ronnie, who had gone to Stella Maris and was my health proxy because she was driving me to appointments.  Antonio didn’t even have my phone number,” Ulrich said. “God forbid this guy got his hopes up and I was disqualified.

“But I saw him, and I made a beeline for him. He looked much worse, I could tell he was deteriorating, and it was taking a toll on his physical and mental health, sort of a Damocles sword hanging over your head, not knowing if you’re gonna live. I asked him ‘How are you feeling? Did they find a donor for you?’ He said, ‘They called me Wednesday and said they might have somebody.’ I looked at him and said, ‘Antonio, the donor is me.’ He’s like ‘What?’ ‘The donor is me.’ He thought I was being funny or playing a prank. I said, ‘I’m not joking. I’ve been doing this since I saw you in June and I met with all these doctors and I did this with the intention of trying to help you save your life and I think you may have saved mine.’ They got very emotional, started crying and said, ‘Why would you do that?’ I said, ‘Why not? You got someone better picked out? I don’t need to do this, I’m not your nephew. I’m your friend and I don’t want to see you die!’” After that, Blandino took down Ulrich’s number.

“I feel like all of these things were meant to happen and thank God they did,” Ulrich said. “I wanted to have the surgery as soon as possible after that.” After some delays, the surgery was finally scheduled for February 10, three days before Ulrich’s 41st birthday. He was offered a chance to delay, but Ulrich didn’t want to wait any longer to give Antonio the gift of another chance at life.

And even before the anesthesia kicked in, Ulrich got one last sign from Rockaway.  “The nurse in the operating room was literally holding me up by the shoulders as she’s injecting me and she says ‘I know you.’ I said, ‘I used to be somebody’ as she’s injecting me with anesthesia and she goes, ‘I live in Belle Harbor,’ before I conked out.” He later found out her name was Elizabeth O’Rourke.

Ulrich underwent surgery for eight hours. It entailed removing his gallbladder to reach the liver, and having a little more than 60% of his liver removed. “They transplanted it to Antonio and they thought they were gonna attach the right lobe to his left lobe but when they opened him up, his lobe was mush. He needed all of mine to live. So, he got 60% of mine, which over time will regenerate and grow to almost full size for him and mine will grow to about 95% of the original size,” Ulrich explained.

“We saved the man’s life. We gave him a future. It means time with his family, maybe getting to be a grandparent one day. He’s a child of God and he deserved to live. His family, his friends, his coworkers signed up and were rejected and it turned out I was the perfect match, and I did not back down. I whole heartedly went forward with it,” Ulrich said.

And as he underwent surgery, Ulrich had some prayers being lifted for him as Father Jim had shared the news of what his friend and parishioner was doing at the Sunday Mass before. “Father Jim prayed for me the Sunday before surgery. I took my daughter to Mass at St. Francis like I usually do, and I told him the surgery was Tuesday. He announced it at the Mass because he wanted people to pray for me,” Ulrich said.

“I’m so happy for Eric,” Fr. Jim said. “He’s a great guy and what a beautiful thing to do. It didn’t surprise me at all because he’s just such a good person. I’m really happy for him. He told me a while ago what he was doing. I feel bad for him for the difficulties he’s been going through but he’s a wonderful, giving person as a public servant and as a regular guy. It didn’t surprise me at all when he told me he was going to donate a piece of his liver. He’s among Pat Nash, Mike Coughlin, Meghan Long and others in the neighborhood who have stepped up to save lives. They don’t know the impact they have, and they didn’t blink about it. Now we have to get John Zdyrko his liver. God will reward those who are so generous.”

Ulrich said the recovery process has been painful, but both he and Blandino are doing well, and he has no regrets. On Tuesday, Ulrich was discharged and will be spending some time at his grandmother’s home in Lindenwood as he recovers. While making the decision and going through the process to become a living donor doesn’t come easy, Ulrich urges others to consider seeing if they’re a match for someone. “It is a very special feeling that I don’t think you can get from doing anything else. There’s a lot of pain and sacrifice but if you’re doing it for the right person and reasons, all of those issues are mitigated when you do such a special thing,” Ulrich said.

After everything he’s endured over the last five years, Ulrich said, “Life is a highway full of ups and downs, but you should never let things going on in your life externally, whether its losing a job, losing a loved one, the dissolution of a marriage, being sued or entangled in legal matters, everything that happens should never affect who you are deep down inside and should not have an impact on who you are. I’m a better person than I was five years ago. It’s been chaotic at times, disappointing and you learn who your real friends are when the rough gets going, but I never let that affect me. It didn’t make me pick up a drink. I’m still a good person, a good father and I’m entitled to my day in court. I haven’t been convicted of anything and I’m grateful for the recent decision. I’d never get out of bed if I obsessed over these things. You gotta put your best foot forward, take care of the people you love and put your faith in God. I’m only 41 years old and God taught me that he still has big plans for me in the future. Only God is perfect but I’m doing my best to live up to my obligations.

“This has been a very moving, powerful, spiritual process and I feel blessed I was able to do this and help Antonio. I’m doing this to get to heaven. We do things for God. I’m not looking to get anything from this. Antonio was a goner if I didn’t go through with this, and in doing this, it got him off the transplant list and freed up an organ for someone else. It’s like saving three lives, his, my own and someone else on the list. I’m just trying to live a good life, a life bigger than myself and set a good example as a parent and as a person.”

If considering being tested as a living donor and are blood type O, consider helping local resident in need of a liver, John Zdyrko, a DSNY hero who has been on the list since 2023. Contact the NYU Langone transplant line with any questions at 212-263-8133, and mention John’s name.