Loretta Lynn’s Son Is ‘Desperately Trying to Find’ Kidney Donor Match as Friends Fear ‘It May Be the End’

Country legend Loretta Lynn’s beloved child and only surviving son, 73-year-old Ernest Ray Lynn, is suffering life-threatening kidney failure!

With Ernest shuttling in and out of the hospital multiple times lately, sources exclusively tell Closer they believe his light is about to flicker out.

“His family has been desperately trying to find a match for a kidney donor,” says a source close to the family. “If he doesn’t get it soon, it may be the end!”

“Not quite two weeks ago (as well as last fall) Ernie underwent an operation regarding his kidney failure and dialysis needs that didn’t yield good results, so he will be undergoing another operation today,” Ernie’s wife — Loretta’s daughter-in-law Crystal — posted on Facebook January 23. “We desperately need it to work this time so that they don’t have to take more drastic measures.”

Ernie is the fourth of six children of the Coal Miner’s Daughter singer and frequently toured and performed with his mother, who died in 2022 at age 90.

It’s just the latest horror in a family cursed by tragedy! Loretta’s eldest son, Jack Benny, drowned in 1984 while attempting to cross a river on horseback. Her daughter Betty Sue died of complications from emphysema in 2013.

Crystal wrote of Ernest, “We have to be very gentle with him right now as well as keep him as healthy as possible. A simple cold, COVID, the flu, etc... could be fatal to him.”