“My name is Darren, and volunteers from PSEG, Gibbons, and McCarter & English helped me with estate planning and restoring my driver’s license.
I served our country in the United States Marines, even at the risk to my health. While stationed in Japan, in 2011 I rendered life-saving aid in the radioactive tsunami apocalypse near Fukushima, Japan. The radiation I absorbed was so significant it damaged my body and brain. When I tried to get help from my own command I was humiliated. After leaving the Marines, I struggled tremendously for a decade destroying my life, facing homelessness, incarceration, and being near death multiple times. Making matters worse, I was also diagnosed with bone cancer, skin cancer, liver cancer, and lung cancer linked to the Fukushima radiation. My life has been nearly destroyed because of my military service, and yet, in my recovery Volunteer Lawyers for Justice and the volunteer attorneys from Gibbons, McCarter & English, and PSEG have done more for me than the entire United States military.
When I first came to VLJ, I met with Matt Jokajtys from PSEG and Jessica Macarone from McCarter & English who walked me through a questionnaire for my estate plan. While talking with Matt and Jessica, I mentioned I also needed help getting my driver’s license back. After my meeting, I was assigned another volunteer attorney to help with my will, power of attorney, and healthcare documents. I came back to VLJ about my driver’s license and started working with Matt again and volunteers from Gibbons, Andrea Marino and Christopher Zamlout. We made progress on getting my driver’s license back, but at the time I was not doing well, so I needed a power of attorney who could take over. Thankfully, my estate planning documents were taken care of and I came back to VLJ a third time and met with Matt again and Paul Dritsas from McCarter & English to pick up where I left off. I am on my way to getting my driver’s license back, and I am grateful to the volunteers from Gibbons, McCarter & English, and PSEG who helped me and listened to me.
It means a lot to not have these legal issues weighing on me anymore. As the saying goes, no Marine is left behind, and VLJ and their volunteers were one of the first American organizations to have found me and helped me not be left behind.”
Because how we do justice matters.
How We Do Justice Matters - VLJ's Veterans Legal Program