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Fox News Host Ed Henry Makes Tearful Announcement About Upcoming Surgery

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Fox News host Ed Henry announced Sunday that he would be taking some time off to donate a portion of his liver to his sister, Colleen Henry, who has been battling a degenerative liver disease.

Henry, who regularly hosts “Fox & Friends Weekend,” fought back tears as he made the announcement during Sunday morning’s show.

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Henry is scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday to donate approximately one-third of his liver to replace his sister’s, which due to a hereditary condition, is failing. Because the liver can regenerate, if the transplant is successful, both donor and recipient could have a fully-functioning liver within a matter of weeks. (RELATED: Abby Huntsman Bids Tearful Farewell To ‘Forever Friends’ On Fox News)

But as Henry noted, being a living donor is not just as simple as “finding a match.” Donors must be healthy enough to withstand both the physical and mental impact of the procedure — and for that reason, he had his own medical team doing a series of tests and evaluations before he was even able to inform Colleen that he was planning to attempt donation.

“In my case, I desperately wanted to donate without reservation, but the doctors instructed me I first had to lose 10 to 15 pounds to cleanse fat from my liver and get the medical clearance needed for surgery,” Henry explained.

But with help from Kettlebell Kitchen and his doctors, Henry said that he was able to shed the weight and finally got clearance to be his sister’s living donor.

“My sister is humble, never wants to be a burden, and always tries to shoulder as much as she can on her own. So we both cried as I tried to tell her to sit back and let me take care of her this one time,” he said, adding that she seemed particularly concerned that the surgery might put a damper on his upcoming birthday.

“Yeah, the doctors tell me this surgery will pretty much wreck my birthday this year,” Henry said with a smile, adding that the reason he had decided to go through with the surgery in the first place was so that his sister might have many more birthdays to come.

And while Colleen has said she was immeasurably grateful for her brother’s offer, Henry said it was a text from her son that “blew him away.”

“Happy Father’s Day Uncle Ed! Thank you so much for doing this for my mom, it means everything to her and me,” he wrote.