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Texas teacher to donate kidney to one of her students

6-year-old to get kidney transplant from his teacher

Six-year-old Matthew Parker needs a kidney.

The New Braunfels, Texas, first-grade student’s kidneys started failing him when he was just three weeks old.

His first transplant, at the age of 2, failed. Doctors at University Transplant Center in San Antonio gave him a 1 per cent chance of finding a second donor, but were willing to fight for him anyway — and held a press conference to publicly ask for donors.

Among the more than 70 people tested as possible matches was Lindsey Painter, Matthew’s first-grade teacher.

“When it came back that I was a match, it was shocking,” Painter told KVUE. “It did take a while to wrap my head around it, to think that I can do this, I can still live a normal life…and I get to make this amazing difference in Matthew’s life.”

“I have a ten-year-old and six-year-old at home, little boys. And I just can’t imagine having a child who is going through what Matt has gone through,” she told News 4 San Antonio.

“He has the right to be able to run, be loud and play – just like every other kid his age does,” she said in a statement issued by the school district.

The transplant will occur in mid-March. If all goes well, Matthew, who is currently undergoing dialysis three days a week and only attending classes twice a week, could return to school full-time with his brothers, Sam and Mark.

Matthew is a triplet. All three boys are in Painter’s classroom at Hoffman Elementary School.

"She’s literally the perfect match for Matthew," Principal Krista Moffatt said of Painter in a statement. “This act personifies her character as someone willing to perform a selfless deed, expecting nothing in return but to try and make a little boy she cares so much about well again.”

“When I found out Mrs. Painter was a match I went up and gave her a big hug,” Matthew said. “She always makes me happy when I see her because she’s such a great teacher. I want everybody to know how much she means to me and my family.”

"Once he found out that he’s getting a transplant, he’s been so giddy every day,” Matthew’s mother, Lisa Parker, told News 4 San Antonio. “He’s been so excited.”

"It will be a story to tell when he gets older,” Parker added. “She was selfless and just a giving person. I think it’s really a miracle.”