Posted6/2/2021 5:22 AM
Even before the pandemic pushed most of the country into grim isolation, longtime Lake County leader and public servant Bonnie Thomson Carter felt hidden and sheltered.
She was diagnosed with an aggressive rare blood cancer in August 2019 -- one that damaged her kidneys. She was put on dialysis and endured six months of chemotherapy, four stem cell harvests and tandem stem cell transplants.
Carter dealt with her health crisis largely in private. That changed when she realized that she needed a kidney to save her life.
Carter, who served 20 years on the Lake County Board, decided this spring to take her battle public and to ask others to consider becoming a living donor -- for her or for someone else awaiting a miracle.