Monday, April 16, 2018

Organ Donor Day
The Newport Medical Center hosted a Donate Life ceremony on Friday, urging community members to support organ, eye and tissue donation. Participating in the event were Pam Beck, Interim CEO of Newport Medical Center and Chaplain Linda Morris. As part of the ceremony, a special organ donation flag was raised by Ronnie Hommel, a kidney transplant recipient from Parrottsville, and Laura Forbes of Newport, who donated the needed kidney. Chaplain Morris stressed the importance of organ donation, saying 117,000 people are awaiting a life saving transplant. A total of 8,000 people die each year in the United States while awaiting an organ donation. Hommel told the group his kidneys failed 17 years ago. He underwent dialysis for a year, and the procedure took 11 hours every night. Hommel became emotional as he remembered that Forbes was the only person, other than his wife who was willing to assist in the dialysis procedure. "The insurance gives you ten chances to find a donor match. Laura was the first and praise the Lord, she passed. It has been six years since my transplant and I'm healthier than I was in twenty years," he said. After having assisted with the dialysis procedure one night, Forbes was driving home when, " I heard a voice, not a loud voice, but it was clear as a bell, that told me I was going to give Ronnie a kidney." She said she prayed asking, "Lord are you sure?" Then Forbes talked to her family physician who said she likely would not be approved because there was a 99 percent rejection rate. "After I was approved I told my doctor he was wrong, but he told me I was the one-percent." After she found out that she was a match, Forbes told Hommel about the results and he told her he had received information earlier that day, that he had been approved as a transplant recipient. "So isn't God amazing, how that happens." Every week, more than 150 people on the national transplant waiting list die because a lifesaving organ is not available. April is National Donate Life Month, and Tennova Healthcare is urging community members to support organ, eye and tissue donation For more information on becoming an organ donor go to donatelifeTN.org or call 877-552-5050.


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