Paul Bryant is managing editor of The Statesman. Jannie Parker's story is heartbreaking - and yet encouraging.

A former educator, active in her community and church, Parker has been waiting since August to find out whether a team of doctors is going to place her on a recipients list for a liver.

But she needs a kidney, too. Time is not on her side. The 67-year-old woman's daughter-in-law, Sherry Parker, e-mailed me several days ago to explain a few of the details.I asked her to come to my office to share the whole story.

And I was moved by the struggle Jannie Parker and her husband, Dan, are enduring. Both are retired and have essentially exhausted their savings on medicine and treatment.

Jannie must take 17 pills and visit at least five doctors between here and Dallas on a regular basis.

At home, she's required to lose weight, maintain a strict diet, and generally take it easy while her body fights to get better.

But it's not all up to her. In a situation like this, faith becomes a large factor in survival, and Sherry Parker says the family is relying on faith.

That's not to say they don't have the community's support. I've received comments from Jannie's friends, her pastor, and others whose love for Jannie and her family is evident.

It would be almost impossible for a person in a situation like this to persevere without such support.

And at the same time, an unyielding belief in miracles helps. Quite frankly, I think that's what Jannie needs.

From the way her daughter in-law explains it, Jannie is a fighter - a woman with a large heart who can overcome the most desperate and difficult situations. This one is going to continue to test her will.

The liver disease and failing kidney is taking a toll on her body. She's susceptible to a number of other illnesses and has struggled with high blood pressure for years.

Now, she's having back trouble, and that may further complicate her fight.

Another complication is money.

A transplant would cost at least $100,000, anti-rejection drugs another $1,500 a month. Add the $800 a month the family is already spending on medication, and the financial burden is extraordinary.

But faith is keeping the Parkers in the fight. Their church, Rock Hill Baptist, has played an important role in this process, Sherry said, and the generousity of others has not gone unnoticed.

Take Copeland's Chandler Drug, for example. According to Sherry, it has been helping Jannie stay on her medications, and others have been stopping by the drug store to pay on her account.

And that doesn't surprise me. I've seen it time and again communities rallying around their own in amazing ways.

Often, the help comes from people who don't even wish to be identified or thanked. They just want to help in any way possible.

It's because of people like that and a God that still grants miracles that I believe Jannie is going to make it onto that recipents list, that she is going to get those transplants, and that she is going to survive.

Meanwhile, we're glad we could help tell Jannie's story and that Sherry was gracious enough to share it.

Keep fighting, Jannie, and keep praying. You're going to make it.