"BEAR" COMES THOUGH HEART TRANSPLANT - Taken Off Ventilator

(09/05/2002)
Mt. Zion resident Larry "Bear" Kerby has come through a heart transplant operation at Cleveland Clinic Tuesday.

A family spokesperson said he was "doing well" and had been taken off a ventilator, breathing on his own.

He will likely be placed in a general hospital room today.

Kerby went into crisis with a heart condition the last of June and has been waiting for his new heart at the clinic, until Tuesday.

During the past months, his mother suffered critical health problems, and passed away.