'It would mean the world to me'
There are 7,253 people in Pennsylvania waiting for an organ transplant — the only chance to save their lives.
“It would mean the world to me,” said Lorraine Skomo, a Center Township resident who needs a liver transplant.
Skomo, a retired nurse with autoimmune cholangitis, is among Butler County residents who have waited over a year for a vital organ — trying to find a perfect match.
For the last 18 months, Lorraine and her husband, David, have explored multiple avenues to find a transplant donor for her liver — searching the internet, putting her plight on placemats in restaurants, hanging up posters, placing classified advertisements in the Butler Eagle, and even ordering a billboard.
“We haven't had any progress,” Skomo said. “I'm not getting better. I'm getting worse.”
In Sunday's Butler Eagle, readers are guided through the transplant process with insight on its impact from Skomo; Joseph Henricks of Butler, a retired Army police sergeant first class, who has colon cancer and needs donations of O-positive or O-negative blood; and Paul Raab of Butler who has received a heart transplant.
