NAMES IN THE NEWS : Lewis’ Aid Surprises Recipient

SAN FRANCISCO —  Liver transplant recipient Wendy Marx was stunned to learn that Olympic track star Carl Lewis had crusaded on her behalf for a donor.

“I was still in CPU (the cardiopulmonary unit) when the nurse said, ‘You must be somebody special to have Carl Lewis visit you,’ ” Marx recounted. “I said, ‘Carl Lewis didn’t visit me.’ She said, ‘Yes he did, and I got his autograph.’ I thought she must be crazy.”

The Nov. 27 transplant was successful, and Marx was released from Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center to a hospital-run apartment today.

It was only after a donor was found through a national search and the operation was performed on the then-comatose Marx that the 22-year-old advertising company office manager learned of Lewis’ televised appeal for a donor.

Marx’s brother, Jeffrey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has been working for the last year on the athlete’s autobiography.

Marx’s family was told on Thanksgiving that she had as little as 24 hours to live. In a rare reaction to hepatitis B, her immune system had destroyed her liver.