by JORDAN LITE
The words came haltingly, but the smiles and tears said it all.
Two city firefighters beamed and hugged the young boys who would have died without their lifesaving bone-marrow donations.
"I'm speechless. I'm a little nervous and very, very happy to meet him," said Firefighter Louis Dym of Ladder 169 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, who donated bone marrow to 12-year-old leukemia patient Cole Sierens.
"I'm happy to see that he's healthy," Dym said. "It's a wonderful thing."
Firefighter Billy Zask of Engine 257 in Canarsie had a similar joyous reaction when he met 3-year-old Alex Jomar Maldonado Cruz, who was born with a severe bone disease.
"I heard him in the back room laughing and playing with his toys and saw him walk out with a big smile on his face. His mom looked ecstatic," said Zask, 26.
"It was great."
The FDNY supplies more bone-marrow donors to the New York Blood Center than volunteers from any other organization, said the center's chairman, Howard Milstein.
For Cole's mom, Treena, embracing Dym, 28, was "amazing, like meeting a part of our family that's been missing."
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