Vietnam Vet's Grandson Comes Home to Save Life

Grandson returns from Afghanistan to donate part of liver to dying Vietnam vet
WSMV News
By Bob Hallmark
Posted: Mar 27, 2014

Ricky Glenn returned from Afghanistan to donate part of his liver to his dying grandfather, a Vietnam vet.

LONGVIEW, TX (KLTV)
It's an amazing story of family, love and honor from one East Texas soldier to another. A dying Vietnam veteran is in desperate need of a liver transplant and his grandson is stepping in to help.

Rick Homer spent four years in the Marines and 16 in the U.S. Army. He survived the savage fighting in Vietnam, but now the 62-year-old Longview man is dying.

"I found out about it a little over three years ago. I have hemachromatosis, which is genetic. The liver doesn't purify the blood like it supposed to. The only time I've got left is what the good Lord gives me," Homer says.

He could have been on a donor list for years, but his grandson, 21-year-old U.S. Army Specialist Ricky Glenn, came to his rescue.

"The loss and the regret of me not doing anything would have outweighed this. I'm the firstborn grandson I carry my grandfather's name," Glenn says.

Glenn arranged with his commanding officer to be flown back from Afghanistan to Baylor Medical Center to be tested as a match.
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