SHES
August 23, 2007
The Kings Mountain Herald
Page 3
VRS
FUNDRAISER
FOR
PATSY
CARPENTER
LIVER
THANK vA
Doris Sipes Peterson, of Grover, has been setting up tables at local businesses to raise money for
her sister Patsy Carpenter, of Kings Mountain, who is on the waiting list for a liver transplant.
Patsy Carpenter’s family
raising money for transplant
* EMILY WEAVER
" eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
Patsy Carpenter, of Kings
Mountain, became ill in 2004.
Her enzyme levels went
through the roof. Her liver
was failing.
Doctors ran some tests and
found she had cirrhosis. “I
never drank alcohol,” Mrs.
Carpenter said. But she had
taken medication for her
heart since the age of 19 and
received a blood transfusion
in 1986, both of which, doc-
tors told her, could have led
to her condition.
At the age of 52, her name is
now listed on the national
register United Network for
Organ Sharing, with hun-
dreds of others waiting for a
liver transplant. Doctors have
told her that the new liver is
the answer she needs. But the
transplantation and the med-
ical costs that will follow the
surgery are far from cheap.
Her family has spear-head-
ed a fund raising campaign
on her behalf. Mrs.
Carpenter's sister Doris Sipes
Peterson, 65, of Grover, has
been setting up tables around
Kings Mountain and Shelby
since last August in an effort
to raise funds. This Saturday,
she plans to have a table set
up inside the Cleveland Mall.
“I go to just about any store
that will let me set up outside
(or inside),” Ms. Peterson
said.
Mrs. Carpenter’s son Mark
Carpenter, daughter-in-law
Angie and grandson Matthew
held a fish fry to raise money
last August. Her husband,
Philip, has also been a strong
supporter.
Their fund raising goal is
set at $50,000. They have cur-
rently raised $15,000, which
will cover some of the post-
surgery, anti-rejection med-
ications needed after the
transplant.
Mrs. Carpenter has been on
the waiting list for a liver for
the past two and a half years.
She said that usually a
patient's condition must be
critical, having only a few
weeks left to live, before they
can receive a transplant. She
goes to Duke University
Medical Center every six
months for scans, MRIs and
tests to check her condition.
“Doctors said if I started hav-
ing tumors they would move
me up on the (critical) level,”
she said.
In addition to her travels to
Duke, she goes to a doctor at
Carolina’s Medical Center, in
Charlotte, every two months
to have her blood drawn. The
doctor told her that she had
too much iron in her blood -
another side effect of the cir-
rhosis. She also regularly sees
her physician Dr. Scott Mayse
in Kings Mountain who
draws some of the blood for
her to keep her from having
to travel too extensively.
Doctors have told her that her
liver is now functioning at
about 65 percent.
The Carpenter family
would like to thank Mrs.
Peterson for all of her love,
devotion and fund raising
efforts. They would also like
to thank all of the businesses
which have allowed Mrs.
Peterson to set up and all of
the people who have stopped
by her table to donate.
If you would like to help in
the cause, donations can be
made to “Patsy Carpenter
Transplant Fund c/o (care of)
First Charter Bank.”
Stei, Romania is
now officially
KW’s sister city
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
It’s official! The city of Stei,
Romania recently approved a
resolution of unity between the
City and Kings Mountain.
Written in the books abroad
and at home, Stei and KM are
officially sister cities.
Kings Mountain City
Council passed a resolution to
name Stei, Romania as its sister
city in June. Stei’s City Council
concluded the approval of the
agreement with a sister city
resolution of their own on July
26, 2007.
Mayor Rick Murphrey said
that he keeps in contact with
Stei’s Mayor Ioan Lucaciu
every so often through emails.
Lucaciu visited Kings
Mountain with other delegates
in June this year. During their
week-long stay they had a
chance to experience Relay for
Life, the 2007 Over the
Mountain Triathlon, and to
tour city departments, the hos-
pital, and other sites.
“We want to continue to
learn from each other in cultur-
al, economic development and
other areas,” Murphrey said.
“There are a lot of different
things that we can do for each
other. We'll both work on those
things together.”
Romania was caught under
the foot of oppression until
about 11 years ago, in 1996,
when communistic rule was
swept from its power
Romanians are now a free,
democratic people, learning
the way of their new freedom.
“They're so eager to learn
after being under communism
when they were so isolated,”
Murphrey said. “Now it’s like
they're just waking up and see-
ing how big the world is for the
first time. Freedom is some-
thing we take for granted,
though we shouldn't. But they
aren't taking it for granted.”
He said that he really
enjoyed their visit and they
seemed to really enjoy visiting
Kings Mountain when they
were here. He learned a lot just
listening to some of their sto-
ries about their homeland.
“One of the things I learned
when they were here is that
they appreciate the democracy
so much and the freedom that
they have now and they were
under such oppression before,
under the communism rule,”
Murphrey said. “They’ve just
come a long way and they have
a long way to go. But they're so
eager, cooperative, friendly
and excited. They are very
eager to exchange ideas, as we
are. We are all brothers. They
are good people.”
Although freedom may be
relatively new to Kings
Mountain's sister city, Stei,
Romania dates back to about
500 years. The country is well
known for the legendary folk-
lore of Count Dracula, of
Transylvania.
Creationism class offered at CCC
Cleveland Community
College will offer the class,
Scientific Creationism,
September 10 through
December 3. The class will
meet each Monday from 6:30 —
8:30 p.m. The registration fee is
$55.
Instructor Jon Poston notes
that most people think of cre-
ationism as strictly a matter of
faith which contradicts scientif-
ic evidence. Further, he
explains that evolution is wide-
ly accepted as being well
founded in factual data. Poston
asserts that the scientific data
does not indeed prove the the-
ory of evolution (which is why
it is a theory and not a law) and
that all conclusions are a mat-
ter of the interpretation of data.
The class will introduce Walt
Brown's Hydroplate Theory as
an alternative explanation of
many geographic features on
the earth (and some outside the
earth). The class will include
discussion of the fallacies of the
theory of evolution and the sci-
entific evidence supporting
creationism. For more informa-
tion, contact Chris Nanney at
704-484-4117.