By writer to www.postandcourier.com
GREENVILLE — Fb is commonly a spot the place urgent the “like” button is dismissed as innocuous acknowledgement or pored over for hidden which means. It is the realm of “ideas and prayers” and memes of encouragement.
Generally, although, it results in a option to take motion.
Margaret Stegall selected to do extra two summers in the past.
In the span of 37 weeks, Stegall donated a portion of her liver to a stranger and ran within the New York Metropolis Marathon. In the identical span, Janet Pierce Thorin started to assert a brand new life of excellent well being.
Margaret Stegall (left) donated a portion of her liver to a fellow Bob Jones College alumna, Janet Thorin (proper) after seeing a Fb plea for assist. A June 29 Fb put up on the Bob Jones College alumni web page helped join the 2. File/Supplied
The lives of the 2 Bob Jones College graduates are perpetually intertwined.
In June 2020, Stegall was scrolling on the “BJU Common Alumni” Fb web page and noticed a put up made by Thorin’s household asking for individuals to contemplate testing compatibility for a liver transplant, which requires solely a portion of the organ. Stegall, a 2016 graduate and director of growth for the American Coronary heart Affiliation-South Carolina in Greenville, was ready to hit the “like” button and transfer on, however then felt an urge to behave.
Seven months later, she was on a flight to Denver to have a part of her liver given to a girl she had by no means spoken with. The surgical procedure was a hit. The 2 lastly met in individual. Then got here restoration.
It has been a unique journey for the 2, who stay in touch. However in every expertise, they hope to encourage others to contemplate donating.
For Stegall, the restoration was swift. Eight weeks.
Then got here the marathon.
Earlier this month, Stegall ran the New York Metropolis Marathon as a part of the American Liver Basis crew in an effort to advertise liver donation.
“I’m not a runner,” she instructed The Publish and Courier in a current interview. “I didn’t run earlier than I donated. However it was too good a chance to move as much as donate my liver and run a marathon in the identical 12 months. I needed to indicate those that whenever you’re a live-organ donor, you’re capable of return to a traditional life.”
Since she was 19, Thorin, a 2008 BJU grad, knew she had an autoimmune dysfunction that attacked her liver. Lately, her lengthy shifts as a nurse had change into tougher as time handed.
When she spoke to sufferers, she did so with a yellow, jaundiced face. Her ft started to degenerate, inflicting acute ache standing. Steadily, she needed to minimize her hours. In 2019, her well being took a steep decline. Her weight dropped to 85 kilos. As she awaited a donor, the medical doctors instructed her she needed to rise up to 100 kilos to have the process.
She did.
Restoration has been a battle.
“I am not precisely the poster youngster for what you need to occur in a transplant, however I am additionally proof you may get by it,” Thorin instructed The Publish and Courier.
The medical doctors instructed her that her autoimmune dysfunction would seemingly trigger her physique to reject the organ. It did, however a lot earlier than they thought. They needed to dampen her immune system, stopping her from taking drugs that helped her ft. She had an abscess and fluid in her lungs, adopted by a hernia.
It wasn’t till the top of September that she started to really feel higher. Now, she will be able to take drugs for her foot once more and the medical doctors have cleared her from issues.
Thorin mentioned she feels gratitude for the only issues.
“I am simply grateful to have the ability to do the laundry, as bizarre as that sounds,” she mentioned. “It does finally get higher, and it’s important to imagine that. Actually, I believe it is simply God working.”
Comply with Eric on Twitter at @cericconnor.
