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RFM wrote:ROBERT RITNER UPDATE--It has been almost a year since Dr. Ritner was kind enough to spend 13-hours of his time with John Dehlin and me discussing the Book of Abraham on a cross-over podcast between Mormon Stories and Radio Free Mormon.
At that time, we were soliciting kidney donors to help Dr. Ritner with medical difficulties he was facing.

Many listeners have contacted me asking how things went with the kidney donation and how Dr. Ritner is doing. I have generally avoided answering those questions because I was not authorized to spell out in detail what has been transpiring.

Until yesterday. (26 May 2021)

Yesterday I called Dr. Ritner and he gave me authorization to let everybody know what has been going on.

Shortly after our final podcast last year, there was a kidney donor lined up and Dr. Ritner was expecting the phone call at any minute for him to rush to the hospital for the transplant. He did get a phone call, but it was the hospital telling him that a check of his blood showed leukemia. Dr. Ritner could not do any kidney transplant until his leukemia situation was resolved.

The delay in the transplant necessitated Dr. Ritner's being put on dialysis, something he had hoped to avoid.

Long story short, the cancer was treated, went into remission, but is back again. When I spoke with Dr. Ritner yesterday, he was out of the hospital but in a midway placement facility where he could rest and get well enough to return home.

I know we are all hoping for a complete recovery for Dr. Ritner.

Something else Dr. Ritner told me on the phone I want to pass along. What with his medical situation, Dr. Ritner has been concerned that he will be forgotten when he is gone. I assured him that this was not the case; that he would not be forgotten; that for his work on the Book of Abraham alone, there were hundreds if not thousands of Latter-day Saints who would always remember him.

Dr. Ritner was the right man at the right time in the right place with the right education, and willing to commit the resources necessary to write and speak about the Book of Abraham in a way that has created life-changing clarity for many, many people.
It was my idea to post this here, which I am doing with his permission.

RFM wrote:REQUEST FOR COMMENTS--It was also my idea to ask all my listeners and anybody who has been impacted by Dr. Ritner's work to comment below. My intent is to send Dr. Ritner a link so he can read what everyone has to say.
Please feel free to share this post with as many people as possible so we can get a healthy sampling of comments from those who have benefitted from Dr. Ritner and his work.

Here's to you, Dr. Ritner!!!