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By ALPHA HUSTED
CASSADAGA — Denise Michalak gently folded the letter.
''This came from Upstate New York Transplant Services,'' she said, lifting the envelope.
''They wanted me to know a 3-month-old baby boy has received one of my daughter's two corneas, donated after her death.''
Dabbing at a tear sliding over her cheek, she reached for a photo. A dark-haired young woman smiled from the frame.
''It's Aimee's wedding picture,'' she said. ''It's the last one taken of her. She was married last year in July, just six months before the accident.
''According to this letter,'' she said softly to the face in the photo, ''a little boy in Buffalo is able to see the world, and he's looking at it through your eye, or at least part of it.''
Mrs. Michalak says she is looking forward to meeting the baby and his family.
''I've been told there's a good chance this can be arranged,'' she said. ''My only daughter is gone. But it gives me great comfort knowing that part of her lives on with this little boy and the many others who have received transplants made possible by her donations.''
On Jan. 29, 2000, Aimee Jo Meadows Setera, 21, was killed and another driver injured when the young woman's red Toyota and a truck crashed at the intersection of Route 83 and Farrington Hollow Road.
Mrs. Michalak's youngest son, 13-year-old Andrew Lanski, was with his sister.
''Andrew could have been killed or seriously injured if it weren't for Aimee,'' she said.
In reconstructing the accident, she said, police theorized that her daughter and the other driver were temporarily blinded by sun.
''After examining the accident scene, police told us Aimee had apparently spotted the oncoming truck a split-second before the crash and had turned the wheel,'' Mrs. Michalak said.
As the car swerved, she said, the passenger side of the vehicle escaped the full impact of the collision and Andrew was not seriously injured.
Later, at the hospital, Mrs. Michalak, her husband Paul, and son-in-law, Scott Setera, learned that physicians had been unable to save the accident victim. A student of Jamestown Community College, Aimee Setera's goal to become a teacher would never be realized.
Suddenly, though, Mrs. Michalak remembered another goal — a goal Aimee could still achieve with her mother's help.
With Setera's consent, his mother-in-law quickly authorized the hospital to follow through with ''gift of life'' procedures through arrangements with Upstate Transplant Services, Inc., in Buffalo.
''Aimee always made it clear she wanted to help others through organ donations. It was something she had talked about for years,'' Mrs. Michalak said. ''Actually, the information was on the back of her drivers' license, but no one noticed it.''
More than a year has passed since that cold, gray afternoon in January. During the months following Aimee Setera's death, her two brothers were involved in near-tragic accidents.
Andrew was seriously injured when he was struck by a car as he biked along Route 60, a short distance from the Michalaks' home on Ulrich Park Drive.
Three months later, 25-year-old Aaron Meadows' car plunged off the Shumla Road Bridge. Miraculously, the young motorist walked away from the crumpled auto with only cuts and bruises.
Andrew has fully recovered and is back riding his bicycle. However, an eye transplant may be prescribed in the future. Mrs. Michalak said the teen-ager was injured some time ago in a school playground accident.
''Doctors have indicated a transplant will be needed eventually,'' she said.
''Diseases and accidents can strike any family,'' she said. ''Many kids and adults are dying by inches, as they wait for kidneys and other organs. My heart goes out to parents who are waiting and hoping their children get the chance to live and to see.''
The local woman said she has been informed that bone tissue donated by her daughter may benefit as many as 40 people, including children with congenital deformities, as well as other patients with bone cancer and spinal injuries.
So far, she said, three bone tissue transplants have been received by patients in Arizona, North Carolina and New Mexico.
In other Upstate communications, Mrs. Michalak was advised that tendons donated by her daughter had benefited seven individuals in Arizona, California, Nevada, Illinois, New Jersey, and Georgia. In addition, one of the heart valves had been transplanted, and the second cornea had gone to a ''grateful individual from Syracuse.''
Mrs. Michalak said she's learned a great deal about transplants. For example, she said, it's especially important that heart valves are available for children and teen-agers. Unlike synthetic valves, real valves actually grow, which eliminates the need for additional surgeries. Also, synthetic valve recipients must accept a life-long regimen of blood thinners.
On Monday, Mrs. Michalak will attend a tree planting ceremony in Buffalo, where donors and the importance of organ and tissue donations will be recognized. The Upstate event will symbolize new life. Aimee would have approved, she added.
''She was a giver,'' Mrs. Michalak said, ''always quick to help the underdog. I remember once, she took on a battle with a slum landlord because she felt sorry for the people who couldn't afford to go anywhere else.
''Now, she has given the most wonderful gifts of all. In helping her meet that commitment I feel I have forged a special spiritual bond with my daughter. I miss her terribly, but I haven't really lost her.''
Hopefully, Mrs. Michalak said, she will someday have the opportunity to meet and hold the baby boy whose world will be a brighter place, thanks to a stranger he will never know.
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