Teacher Says She’s ‘Lucky’ to Give Her 6-Year-Old Student a Kidney

Photo courtesy of GoFundMe/Susan Montgomery

It was Christmas Eve, of all nights, when first-grade teacher Lindsey Painter got the phone call: She alone had beaten unbelievable odds and was a match to donate a kidney to Matthew Parker, 6, a gravely ill student in her class. “The hospital said there was just a one-percent chance of a match,” the educator, at Hoffman Lane Elementary School in New Braunfels, Texas, tells Yahoo Parenting. “For me, to be that, it’s incredibly hard to deny it’s not meant to be.” 

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And it means the world to the Parker family that the mother of two has decided to donate one of her kidneys to Matthew next month. “There’s no words that can say anything because it’s more than thank you,” mom Lisa Parker tells CBS News. “It’s deeper.” Matthew had no words either. “When I found out Mrs. Painter was a match,” he says, “I went up and gave her a big hug.”

The boy, a triplet, was an especially difficult match because he has had a kidney transplant before. At age 3 he got his first, from a deceased donor, following years of dialysis that he began when his kidneys started to fail at a mere three weeks old. A year ago, his body rejected the transplant, reports his school administrators in a story on their website. These days he’s on dialysis three times a week, leaving him just two days a week to attend school. Desperate for a replacement organ, San Antonio’s University Transplant Center held a press conference to try and find Matthew a living donor last year. Eighty people heeded the call and got tested. And only Painter was a match. 

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Lindsey Painter with the Parker triplets, Matthew, Sam, and Mark. Photo courtesy of CBS News

“There were lots of tears,” says the teacher, when she discovered that she could help Matthew. His parents were notified, and mom Lisa “immediately emailed me,” Painter says. “She apologized for writing but said she wouldn’t be able to get through a phone call, there were so many tears of joy.”

Lisa Parker. Photo Courtesy of CBS News

But there were still additional tests to make sure Painter was suitable to proceed with a donation – as well as some soul searching. “I took some time thinking about making the right decision,” she says. “I had to really consider what would be healthy for my life afterwards, too, and not put my family at risk. I was excited but also knew I had a lot to learn.” Taking that time allowed her to be sure, she says. “Honestly, the more I learned the more comfortable I became.” Her kids? Not as much.

The Painter family. Photo courtesy of Lindsay Painter/Stephanie Friedman 

“My 10 year old, Owen, is old enough to understand and worry,” she says. “He asked me why I’d want to do this. I reassured him and explained that we have, as a family, this amazing opportunity to help Matthew to be as healthy as you are.” Today Painter says he’s come around to the enthusiasm of her other son, 6-year-old Landon, who piped up that he wanted to give his kidney away, too. “Owen has become my shadow lately, giving me lots of hugs and saying prayers for all of us.”

Not that support is in small supply for the Painter or Parker families these days. “I don’t have enough days to cover the time when I’m out, and my husband is self-employed as a contractor, so the time he misses helping me he isn’t getting paid either,” says the 13-year teaching alum. So her colleagues started a fundraiser for Painter’s family to allow her to take the time off for surgery and three weeks of recovery. “I’ve been blown away by the school’s and the community’s response,” she says. “Our support system is amazing.”

By sharing her story, the mom says she hopes others will open themselves up to the idea of testing for organ donation. “It didn’t occur to me that I could be a donor until Matthew’s parents took their story to the media urging people to get tested,” she admits. “Honestly I hope that people will hear about our experience and realize that anybody can do it. You don’t have to be a family member or even know the person in need.”

Though, since her decision, Matthew’s brothers have apparently come to consider Painter one of their own. “We were all really excited and happy,” Sam told school administrators. “It’s like she’s a part of the family now.”

Painter, for her part, welcomes all of the changes that this experience will bring. “I feel lucky,” she says. “So many people came forward to help Matthew because he’s such an amazing kid. So I just feel like I’m the lucky one because it gets to be me.”

To make a donation in support of Painter and her family, visit Go Fund Me. 

Photo by GoFundMe/Susan Montgomery

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