Page 54 - December 2017

f cer oe n t e itate to a e life alterin onation
n BY DAN CAMPANA
Over the last nine years, Officer Paul Pulkownik has giv- en himself to the military and to the Chicago Police Depart- ment, but his most unselfish act had nothing to do with ei- ther.
Pulkownik, who joined CPD two years ago in the Harrison Street District and is a member of the Air National Guard, enrolled in the C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Mar- row Donor Program in 2011. He learned in late 2016 that he was a preliminary match for an eight-month-old boy suf- fering from Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome. The condition’s only known cure is a bone marrow transplant.
Pulkownik learned in March that he was indeed a proper match for the boy. A month later, Pulkownik went to Wash- ington, D.C. to undergo a procedure to remove bone marrow from his lower back.
It took eight weeks for Pulkownik to fully heal from the surgery. It was all worth it, though, when he found out in July that the boy had been released from the hospital after what was called a successful transplant. Pulkownik’s willingness to help a stranger earned him the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation’s Officer of the Month award for November.
Speaking to the media at his award ceremony, Pulkownik said that signing up as a bone marrow donor was something he felt he needed to do.
CPMF Executive Director Phil Cline said Pulkownik — who first joined the military in 2008 — serves as an example of someone committed to serving not only Chicago and his country, but everyday people in extraordinary ways.
“Officer Pulkownik is a true hero who volunteered to go under the knife to help a young boy, a sacrifice of giving to others, unselfishly, which is a common trait amongst officers who serve the neighborhoods to keep evil away from the hardworking citizens,” Cline said. “We at the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation are thankful we have officers on the street protecting us every day; officers that go the extra mile and coach a kids’ sports team, volunteer in their neighbor- hood or purchase a coat for someone who cannot afford one.
“This month, we think Officer Pulkownik is a great repre- sentative of all those officers out there that go above and be- yond,” Cline added. d
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54 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2017