A woman who gifted her kidney to her supervisor in an effort to save her life found herself jobless shortly afterward.
Debbie Stevens, 47, hailing from Long Island, expressed feeling ‘betrayed’ following her termination from the job in 2012.
“I decided to become a kidney donor to my boss, and she took my heart,’’ Debbie conveyed to The Post during that time.
“I feel very betrayed. This has been a very hurtful and horrible experience for me. She just took this gift and put it on the ground and kicked it.’’
Court documents detailed how Debbie first encountered her boss, Jackie Brucia, in January 2009, when she began her position at Atlantic Automotive Group located on Long Island.
Though she exited the role in 2010 due to relocation, she eventually returned to Long Island and while visiting the office, discovered Brucia’s need for a kidney transplant.
Stevens stated that Brucia mentioned a potential donor had been identified but shared her willingness to become a donor if required to help her former boss.
“Brucia… told her, ‘You never know, I may have to take you up on that offer one day,’” the documents state.
Soon after this exchange, Stevens decided to return to Long Island and inquired with Brucia about resuming her previous position.
Upon securing her role once again, Brucia invited her to a private discussion.
Stevens recalled Brucia saying: “My donor was denied. Were you serious when you said that?’ I said, ‘Sure, yeah.’ She was my boss, I respected her. It’s just who I am. I didn’t want her to die.”
Although a direct match wasn’t possible, doctors facilitated Stevens’ kidney donation to another individual, thereby advancing Brucia’s position on the transplant list.
“I felt I was giving her life back,” Stevens reflected.
“My kidney ended up going to St. Louis, Missouri, and hers came from San Francisco.”
Following the surgery, Stevens encountered complications and felt a burden to resume her job duties swiftly.
On one occasion, after departing the office feeling sick, she recalled Brucia contacted her at home, questioning: “She… said, ‘What are you doing? Why aren’t you at work?’ I told her I didn’t feel good.
“She said, ‘You can’t come and go as you please. People are going to think you’re getting special treatment.’”
Stevens alleged she was deprived of office space and overtime, subsequently demoted to a branch 50 miles away, and faced mental health challenges.
“She just started treating me horribly, viciously, inhumanly after the surgery,” Stevens recounted to ABCNews.com.
“It was almost like she hired me just to get my kidney.”
Following a letter from her legal representatives to the company, Stevens was ultimately dismissed.
At the time, AAG and Brucia did not address requests for comment from ABC News or The Post.
However, Brucia’s spouse, James, remarked to a journalist that the allegations were ‘far from the truth’ and insisted she ‘didn’t fire anybody’.