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A fundraiser is scheduled for Saturday, June 4 to help with medical expenses for heart transplant recipient T.J. Byers of Forest City. The barbecue/gospel singing fundraiser will be held at Bethany Baptist Church, 760 Bethany Church Road, Forest City on Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m.
Barbecue and all the trimmings will be served outside at the picnic shelter. All donations will be appreciated, although there is no set price.
Special music will be provided by Southern Sounds, Stephen Keeter, Stephen Matheny, Steve Garrison and Tony Owens; Melissa Carroll and Norma Eubanks and Cosmo Pannell.
TJ is the son of Susan and Melvin Hall of Forest City and was born with a heart defect.
Just a day before T.J. was scheduled for his heart transplant surgery (Wednesday, May 25) his daughter Addie Byers, 11, stopped by his hospital room in Charlotte.
On March 15, Addi, a sixth grader at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, received a new heart at Levine Children's Hospital, Atrium Health in Charlotte.
Her heart condition is also genetic.
"It's not every day you get visited by your hero, but yesterday mine stopped by to say hi!," the Facebook post read on May 24.
"Addi has been such a rockstar through her transplant that it has been such a testament to her faith and an inspiration to me."
Addi, whose mom is Melanie, announced shortly after the transplant surgery at Levine that for the first time in years, her little girl had a full functioning heart.
Melanie calls her daughter her "heart warrior."
