Marshall and his donor, Karen Tyner, at the Spring Sprint 5K fundraiser in April 2006.
Karen M. Nassif Tyner
Karen M. Nassif Tyner volunteers to donate one of her kidneys to her nephew, Marshall Taylor.
Interested in becoming a donor? Go to our organ donation page and learn how you can help save a life.
Soon after Marshall was diagnosed in August 2005, Karen notified Marshall’s parents that she wanted to be considered as his kidney donor. Here is a brief biography of this brave attorney who will be giving Marshall a second chance at life.
Karen M. Nassif Tyner was born Jan 10, 1963 at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC. She was the second of five children born to Janet and Joe Nassif of Chapel Hill, NC. She graduated from Chapel Hill High School in 1981 and from UNC-CH in 1985.
She went back to school to pursue a career in law and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1991 from North Carolina Central University. She is a member of both the North Carolina and South Carolina bars and practices law in both states.
In July 1992, she married David H. Tyner from Shelby, NC, and the two started their married life in Spartanburg, SC . She started working as an attorney for Edwards, Ballard, Bishop, Sturm, Clark and Keim, PA. Karen later became a partner in the law firm, Ford & Harrison, LLC. (Formerly known as Edwards, Ballard, Bishop, et al)
Karen is currently active in the Uptown Sertoma Club of Spartanburg. She is a friend of the Spartanburg Humane Society, is active with the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, a board member for Spartanburg Development Association, and is on the Business Advisory Committee for the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind.She and her husband, David, attend Southside Baptist Church in Spartanburg, SC. She is the proud aunt of William and John Nassif, Nick McHenry, Emily and Matthew Nassif, and Marshall Taylor.
Karen's favorite sport is NASCAR and Marshall's favorite sport is Ice Hockey. She told Marshall that she would teach him all about NASCAR if he would teach her to skate and all about the NHL rules.
Karen finished the testing at the UNC hospitals in September and October and has been cleared by the UNC Transplant Center to be a kidney donor for Marshall.
The song you hear on this site was written and sung by Greg Nicholson of Songs of Love and is used by permission from Songs of Love. Go to their website to see how Songs of Love is helping brighten the lives of many ill children and their famalies.
"Don't take your organs to heaven; heaven knows we need them here!"
This site was made possible by a very generous donation. The anonymous donor said, "I want this site to help Marshall and as many other transplant patients as possible." We are honored and humbled as recipients of this gift and we will make every effort to insure that many others in the transplant community are helped through this site. If you have suggestions about how this site can best benefit the whole community, please go to the REQUEST INFO page and send us your comments.
