CAMDEN COUNTY, Fla. — Terri Sirmon of Camden County had no idea that her liver would one day help save a man’s life.
Sirmon had been following Garrett Smith’s cancer journey on Facebook for the past 5 years. Garrett and his wife, Jeanna, are currently living in Utah with their two kids. Jeanna briefly went to school with Terri in St. Mary’s, Georgia, but they didn’t know each other well. In fact, they haven’t seen each other in over 40 years, according to Terri.
In February 2024, Terri saw a post from Jeanna saying that Garrett needed a donor with type O blood to do a live liver transplant. Liver transplants are sometimes used as treatment for colorectal cancer.
“I found it, and I immediately thought, ‘this is me. I need to do this,’” said Terri Sirmon.
Terri reached out to Jeanna on Facebook and said she believed she had O blood and wanted to get prescreened by Garrett’s doctors at the University of Chicago to see if she was a match.
After a flight to Chicago in April, she found out in June that she was a perfect match.
“I just know that it was in God’s plan for this to happen. There’s no other way about it,” said Terri Sirmon. “The great thing about this story is he may have only had a year to live, but now he may have 30.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
After Terri was confirmed as a donor match, she got a call from the couple with some interesting news. They told her they had reached out to one of their friends who goes to Heaven’s Point International Church in St. Mary’s, asking them to get Garrett into their prayer chain.
And the pastor of this church? Terri’s brother.
“We had no idea that they were praying for that, and she had no idea that I was his sister,” said Terri Sirmon. “To me, that’s just God verifying that this is what needs to happen.”
Terri flies to Chicago on July 17th, and the surgery is scheduled for July 29th. Terri plans to have dinner with Garrett and meet him before the surgery.
If you would like to contribute to Terri’s GoFundMe for the Smith family, click here.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]