One Texas family's search for a kidney to save a 6-year-old boy's life has ended after they finally found a donor, who is the boy's first-grade teacher, News 4 San Antonio reported.
The only thing little Matthew Parker wanted for Christmas last year was a new kidney. So with the help of doctors from a San Antonio transplant center his family set up MattsWish.com, where dozens of people signed up to help save the child who was being kept alive through dialysis.
One of the over 80 volunteers was Lindsey Painter, Matthew's first grade teacher at Hoffmann Lane Elementary.
"When they asked for people to volunteer to be tested, I was the first one to sing up," Painter said according to NBC News. "I was shocked when I received the phone call that I was a preliminary match."
Doctors at University Transplant Center, in San Antonio, conducted further tests to confirm the match. They made sure to warn the child's mother not to get her hopes up just yet.
"The nurse at the hospital said we need to be realistic," Lisa Parker, Matthew's mother, said according to NBC News. "The term, 'needle in a haystack,' was used several times."
But further testing showed Painter was a perfect match- the only one out of all volunteers- and now Matthew is scheduled to receive a much needed kidney in March. Matthew had a previous kidney transplant from a deceased donor when he was 2, but his body rejected the organ two years after the surgery, according to the transplant center.
"When I found out Mrs. Painter was a match I went up and gave her a big hug," Matthew said, NBC News reported.
Matthew's life-long struggle is not lost on Painter, who has two children of her own.
"I have a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old at home, little boy," she told News 4. "And I just can't imagine having a child who is going through what Matt has gone through."
