Kidney recipient to talk Sunday about benefits of organ donation

Gary Herring will share his story at First United Methodist Church to encourage donor registration, Corpus Christi, Texas

• By Mike Baird |   The Caller

CORPUS CHRISTI — A Corpus Christi kidney recipient, Gary Herring, will share his personal story Sunday at First United Methodist Church to encourage others to become organ donors.

Herring's testimony aligns with National Donor Sabbath, an initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1997 to support organ donation the two weekends before Thanksgiving.

More than 100,000 people nationwide, and 10,000 in Texas await organ transplants, according to Southwest Transplant Alliance. About 30,000 people each year receive organs, but about 20 die each day waiting.

Herring, 60, has served as chairman of a golf tournament to benefit National Kidney Foundation. He received his transplant in July 2002 after waiting more than four years. During that time he faced monthly bills between $16,000 and $28,000 for dialysis. And while that procedure kept him going, the quality of his life returned after receiving the transplant, he has said.

Herring will talk about the benefits of donor registration to take the burden of this decision off family members. He will speak during all Sunday services at 900 S. Shoreline Blvd.