Melville Boy Gets a Lift from 'Celebrity Apprentice'

Reality TV star Teresa Giudice believes fate introduced her to 9-year-old , a Melville resident, who has been battling a rare form of kidney disease since he was 2 years old, just a few months before she was asked to compete on "The Celebrity Apprentice."

Giudice, who will also be starring in the fourth season of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" on Bravo beginning on Sunday, said she met Levine and his parents at a charity event.

When she was asked to be on the "The Celebrity Apprentice," she immediately said she would be competing for The NephCure Foundation, an organization that works to fund research and education for a cure for rare kidney diseases.

Levine specifically suffers from Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), but he is one of many children and adults involved with the The NephCure Foundation with varying forms of kidney disease, including Nephrotic Syndrome, which the foundation is named after. Levine's dad, Michael, is a member of the board of directors for the foundation.

The Levine family, Giudice, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, Ken Dashow from the radio station Q 104.3, and several representatives of The NephCure Foundation held a news conference at Trump Tower Tuesday to celebrate Giudice's during a challenge on the show where her team created a 60-second commercial for Entertainment.com. Giudice will continue on in the competition at least through the next episode Sunday at 9 p.m.

Michael Levine thanked Giudice for choosing The NephCure Foundation as her charity and promoting the organization and its cause through the show.

"Thank you to Joe [Giudice] and Teresa for being angels on Matthew's shoulders," he said. "Teresa, you are a gift from heaven."

He also thanked her on behalf of the board of directors for filming public service announcements for NephCure and stressed how much of a toll diseases like his son's, and the other individuals the foundation hopes to help, takes on his whole family.

"We live in fear every day, waiting for the axe to fall, as the kidneys are a ticking time bomb," he said.

Giudice, , said she hopes her community is proud of her for helping to promote the organization.

"I'm proud of it and it is really important to try to get the word out," she said.

Giudice also said she plans to stay involved with NephCure until a cure for FSGS is found, even after "The Celebrity Apprentice" ends.