Lemondrop

How far would you go to save a friend?

Over the weekend in New York City, a young woman who worked for City Corps, an urban agency modeled after the Peace Corps, stepped in front of an oncoming car to push her former roommate out of its path and wound up brain dead as a result of her altruism.

Erinn Phelan, 22, and her friend Alma Guerrero, 23, were in the middle of a Brooklyn crosswalk when a car came careening out of nowhere, and Phelan shoved Guerrero out of the way. The driver didn't stop.

Thanks to her friend's quick thinking, Guerrero remains in stable condition, and is expected to be released today, but Phelan is now being kept alive via respirator. The two friends had been roommates at Brown University. Guerrero, who's now a medical student at Brown, was just visiting for the weekend.

Sources told the New York Post that Phelan would be removed from life support once arrangements were made for organ donation. So far no suspects have been arrested in the case. Mayor Bloomberg urged anyone with information to contact the authorities and issued a statement calling Phelan a dedicated and idealistic person who was "helping New York City answer President Obama's historic call to service."

A look at her Facebook page reveals just how dedicated she was.

It's decorated with buttons announcing her support for groups like DoSomething.org, Frida, Inc. -- a non-profit dedicated to helping low-income middle-school students through higher education -- and NYC Service, where she worked. Even in her profile picture, she's pointing to a billboard for the volunteering agency, which reads:

NYC Needs Your ___Blank___.

What's clear is that what everyone could use is a friend like Phelan, and that barring a miracle, she will have lost her life doing what she loved: helping others.