Catholic newspaper request leads to kidney donor for deacon's wife

Published: 2003-11-18

EASTON, Pa. (CNS) -- "Prayer can move mountains," declared Deacon Anthony Koury, athletic director at Notre Dame High School in Easton. Always a person strong in faith, Deacon Koury believes in prayer more than ever since his wife of 33 years received a gift in September that changed her life dramatically for the better. The gift? For Chafica Koury -- known as "Cheffie" -- it was a kidney donated by someone who saw a prayer request for a donor to come forward that was published in The A.D. Times, newspaper of the Allentown Diocese. Deacon Koury, who serves at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Easton, wrote a letter to the National Apostolate of Maronites and The A.D. Times, hoping to spur someone with an O-positive or O-negative blood type to be tested as a potential compatible kidney donor for his wife. "All it takes is one person moved by the spirit to help," Deacon Koury said. The answer to his prayer was manifested in Ann Wilhelm, a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Lehighton. Deacon Koury's prayer request in The A.D. Times caught her eye and, having an O-negative blood type, Wilhelm contacted the deacon, who put her in touch with the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia to be tested.

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