This Week’s Hometown Hero Gave The Gift of Life To A Coworker

Here's one of those reminders that there are great people in this seemingly dark world but their stories just aren't getting shared. This is one of those stories. This is why Q98.5 is constantly on the look-out for heroes in the Rockford area.

Ronda H. in Freeport nominated her coworker, Larry Roden (of Belvidere), to be a Q98.5 Hometown Hero. Her reason was brief with only four short sentences. By the end of the second sentence, we knew we had our next hero.

On September 11, 2020, Larry gave me the gift of life. He donated one of his kidneys to me. We met at work and have been friends for over 20+ years. He truly is my hero!!!

We wanted to know a little more about Larry as well as the back story so we called Ronda to learn a little bit more.

Larry and Ronda worked in the same department at Woodward for 20+ years. Naturally, over the years they became good friends. During that friendship, Ronda learned she had kidney disease, resulting in dialysis and declining health. Larry took notice of her health taking a downward turn and said when the time came her wanted to get tested to see if he qualified to be a donor. Ronda said "sure" but reminded him of the chances of being a match would be rare. This past June Larry got the tests and learned he was a "perfect" match to be a donor. After all the tests were completed on Ronda and Larry, they both headed to Chicago for the surgery, which was on September 11, 2020. Ronda told us she is doing well, we regular routine tests, and Larry bounced right back to his normal self.

Because Larry was picked as a Q98.5 Hometown Hero, he'll get a $100 Amazon gift card courtesy of our friends at Gustafson's Furniture & Mattress. We reminded Ronda to encourage Larry to use the gift card on himself but, like most of our 'Hometown Heroes', he'll probably use it for others. Ronda's last thought is why Q98.5 is on the lookout for heroic men, women, and children all over the area.

You know, you hear so many bad things all the time... there truly are good people out there and you just don't really hear a lot about them sometimes.

If you know a Hometown Hero, please please please please nominate him or her HERE.

JB Love is ½ of  Q98.5's Lil Zim & JB In The Morning, weekday mornings from 5:00 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.