Anthony Joseph "AJ" Perrelli

Type of Donation:       organs and corneas

Age and Location:      Age 26 - Astoria, NY

Donation Date:           10/19/2013

Sponsor:                      Honored by LiveOnNY

ANTHONY’S STORY

Anthony "AJ" Perrelli's love of the arts began when he took his first trumpet lesson at age four. He broadened his performance passions with local civic theaters, performance troupes and as a dancer. He sang, did voice overs, joined the school bands and thespian society. As an adult AJ performed as a silk aerialist, stilt walker, theme park performer and party motivator. AJ loved anything entertainment. AJ's goal was to be a stage and screen professional. With his twenty-sixth birthday behind him, his hard work and dedication was paying off. To top it off, he was going to be a father. Life was good. Ironically, the "call" for his Broadway debut came as a request for an audition from a choreographer for Finding Neverland as AJ laid in the hospital.

Eight years ago, his family had to say goodbye. "Even after eight years, the feeling is no different than eight minutes ago. The loss of a loved one can never be diminished. However, knowing that AJ's gifts of life bettered the lives of five families gives comfort." AJ saved three men's lives; one received his heart and a kidney, another his second kidney and pancreas and the third received his liver. Two people received the gift of sight. AJ's donation happened on his sister Kitty's twenty-first birthday. When asked if she wanted to move the date of donation, she said no; his birthday gift [to her] was to save lives. She then introduced the family to a word: sillage. Pronounced sE-yazh, it is a French word meaning wake and is used in the perfume trade. It is the scent that lingers in air, the trail left in the water, the impression made in space after something, or someone, leaves. The Perrelli family shares AJ's gift of life story through public speaking, social media, and The AJ Project: the non-profit they established in his honor. "When we see AJ's son or we think of the families whose lives have changed because of AJ's organ donations, that is AJ's sillage. When another person becomes a registered organ donor because of AJ's story, that is AJ's sillage. When the arts community comes together to create and encourage organ donor awareness, that is AJ's sillage." #4AJ