Business Leader Donates Kidney
Elissa Jarvis, Lead Reporter Monday, December 05, 2011
According to the National Kidney Foundation, “Every day, 18 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, lung or bone marrow.” For 67 year old Sue Gommer of Holly Springs, NC that won’t be a problem. Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce President Brad Dean is giving her one of his kidneys.
Gommer has polycystic kidney disease and has been enduring dialysis for two years. Her daughter, Jennifer, wanted to donate one of her kidneys but was not a blood-type match. Dean being a Good Samaritan offered his. “This is not necessarily about who receives a donated kidney,” Dean told the Horry County Business Journal. “If I never meet the individual, just knowing that doctors and nurses have learned something from the process and somebody else’s life is potentially better off is good for me.”
For her part Jennifer Gommer is paying it forward, she is giving the kidney she wanted to donate to her mother to Jeffrey Rogers, a complete stranger. Rogers is a 42-year-old Robeson county man who has been on dialysis for ten years. All four went under the knife Monday morning at Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC.
Area leaders are applauding Dean’s move. In speaking with Myrtle-Beach.com CEO David Hucks, He stated “I can think of no greater act of service than the gift of life during this holiday season. Mr. Dean is to be highly commended. This speaks well of our community.”
For more information about living kidney donation please visit the National Kidney Foundation or organdonor.gov