CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Through the power of organ donation, a lung transplant saved a Charlotte pastor's life, and it happened just in time for him to walk his daughter down the aisle next week.
Tim Cox, 59, was diagnosed with a disease that causes progressive scarring on the lungs, and there's no cure.
Doctors recommended a lung transplant, and Cox received a call from a clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, last year that there was a donor available.
But 10 days after his transplant, Cox suffered a stroke, and his wife worried he wouldn't be able to walk his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day.
"I play that in my mind so much, and he has a special relationship with both of our daughters,” said Diane Cox. “He really is a great dad."
After a year of recovery in Cleveland, the family's wish will come true when Tim Cox returns home to Charlotte next week for his daughter's wedding.
"I just count today as one of the many special blessings,” Tim Cox said. “Each day is a new day but they mean more to me now."
Following his daughter's wedding, Tim Cox will be back in Cleveland to continue his treatments and hopes to return to Charlotte for good in May.
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