East Haven Mayor April Capone Almon has changed the life of one East Haven resident.
On Thursday, the mayor underwent surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital to donate her kidney to a man in need of a transplant, the New Haven Register reports.
The decision began in early January when the mayor began testing to see if she was a match, the newspaper reports. She was, and adding to her selfless act, the mayor is not related to the kidney recipient.
Throughout her surgery and recovery, Capone Almon has received support and good wishes from both political parties.
“It was very nice of her to do that for someone that she really didn’t know,” said Town Council Minority Leader Ken McKay, R-1.
“It seems like a very humanitarian thing to do,” said Councilman Paul Thompson, D-3, “I’m certainly happy that the mayor is doing well.”
So well in fact that by 8 a.m. on Friday, Capone Almon was ready to resume authority.
While the mayor was in surgery, Town Council Chairman James Dougherty served as acting mayor, a position he assumes any time the mayor is unable to perform her duties.
According to the New Haven Register, the mayor placed a call to her staff saying the surgery was a success and to tell the chairman that she was “back on duty.”
