A Villages restaurant is throwing its support behind a Belleview teenager in desperate need of a kidney transplant.
Cody’s Original Roadhouse, at 8761 SE 165th Mulberry Ln., is hosting a fundraising event Tuesday, July 30 for 18-year-old Cole Tumey, who recently graduated from Village Christian Academy. The event will last from 4-9 p.m. and will include a buffet for $10, a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle, a car wash, two-for-one drinks and live music from John Johnson.
“Team Cole” T-shirts and wrist bands also will be sold at the event. All of the money raised will go toward Tumey’s insurance co-pays and deductibles, as well as travel expenses for his three-times-per-week trips to UF Health Shands Hospital for dialysis.
Tumey had suffered from end stage renal disease and the kidney his mother, Leona Yawn, donated to him when he was just two years old started failing late last year, which was causing his blood pressure to reach dangerous heights. He was rushed to Shands on New Year’s Eve and within days his doctors decided to the best option was to remove his only kidney. That meant he would return home in January with no kidney and would be forced to undergo dialysis while he awaited a transplant.
In March, Tumey and his family were at an all-time high because a kidney donor, Amber Ferguson, of Lake City, had come forward. She works at the blood bank laboratory at UF Health Shands Cancer Hospital and said she felt a strong calling to donate one of her kidneys to Tumey. And she surprised Tumey with the announcement via a telephone call in March as they celebrated his father Chris’ 44th birthday.
But on May 21 – transplant morning – Tumey and his family received devastating news – the surgery was off because for unknown reasons, his blood antigens changed from negative to positive, meaning Ferguson was no longer a match. It was heart-wrenching news, but as Tumey has done so many times in the past, he took the high road with a Facebook post shortly after receiving the news.
“Yes, it sounds devastating, but for me I’m standing firm in my faith to say I understand this isn’t the end and God’s plan is perfect in His way,” wrote Tumey, who along with his family attends New Identity Community Church in Belleview. “I’m not mad (or) sad, but rather understanding that God does his timing perfect and maybe it isn’t time yet.”
The news also was quite difficult for Ferguson, who is married and has two young children.
“God brought us together and to this point for a reason,” she said. “I love this family so much and I am praying that God’s will be done here. He has something amazing in store for Cole and I plan on being right there by his side when it happens.”
Yawn was understandably devastated but pointed out that if doctors hadn’t caught the problem and had proceeded with the transplant, the result wouldn’t have been good.
“We would have had to deal with a failing kidney,” said Yawn, who works as a nurse at The Villages Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic. “Though the timing and the outcome was not exactly as we had planned, we all are very strong in our faith and believing that this will happen when it is supposed to. One day at a time – God will send the right one at the right time.”
Those wishing to learn more about Tumey can visit the Team Cole Facebook page by clicking HERE. His GoFundMe page to raise money for the transplant can be accessed by clicking HERE. And anyone with blood type B or O that’s interested in learning more about being screened as potential donors can text Yawn at (352) 598-9260 with a name and address and she’ll send out a packet.
