Local teacher donates kidney to student's father

Marshall Smith lives life a little easier these days.

Walking is no longer a chore. Walking his dog around the block is now a possibility.

Comprehending things is less of a struggle now.

And the agony of going through dialysis three times is a week is gone.

Smith has his son's kindergarten teacher to thank for it.

Teacher of the Year? How about Humanitarian of the Year.

Smith and Highland Village Elementary School's Marie Bell are now recovering from a March 27 surgery in which Bell donated her kidney to Smith.

While the donation is a story of generosity on the part of Bell, it goes much deeper considering the lack of history the two previously had.

"I didn't know her from Adam," said Smith, 50. "My son was in her class, and we met at parent-teacher conferences, but that was the only knowledge I had of her."

A teacher reaching out

A tardy slip never meant so much.

Bell learned of Smith's situation in December when she noticed one of her students wasn't in class. Smith's son, Sean, had been kept home that day because the family had been notified of a kidney match. Smith had been on a waiting list for a kidney for two years.

The kidney the family was hopeful for turned out to be diseased, so the wait continued.

"He has always had exemplary attendance, so I kept wondering, 'Where is he?'" Bell said of Sean. "Later he turned in a tardy slip that said 'hospital' on it. His brother, Tyler, is in Marcus High School's Adopt an Athlete program, and he was matched with our school. He told me that his dad needs a kidney. I had seen the father in August, and he looked fatigued. But I just thought he was tired."

But he was much more than tired. Smith had been battling high blood pressure for years. In 2008, he was laid off his job, and because he didn't have insurance, he could no longer afford the blood pressure medicine. That worsened and later led to failure of both kidneys.

Tyler's response prompted Bell to start asking questions. She contacted Sean's mother, Mary, and asked what she could do.

"Nobody ever asked me to be a donor," Bell said. "Everything I did was on my own free will. This man needed help, and if everything lined up, then by goodness, I was going to do this."

Everything aligns

Bell called the Dallas Donor Institute to inquire about the process. The first step was to see if Bell was a match for Smith.

First came the blood test. Bell's blood was a match with Smith's.

Next came the cross tissue test in which Smith's and Bell's blood were mixed to make sure Smith's blood would be compatible with Bell's cells. That, too, came back favorable.

Not only that, but Bell and Smith were missing the same antibody that typically requires patients to take post-transplant medication. Smith said not having to take that medication saved him $3,200 a month.

"I found out on Feb. 9 that we were a match," Bell said. "I'm in the classroom by myself when I found out, and I start squealing like a pig. You can't begin to know the joy I felt. I was in awe. What was the likelihood that we would be a match?"

Experts say the chances for a match between two living people aren't as uncommon as some might think.

Pam Silvestri of Southwest Transplant Alliance said transplants involving a live donor are more common than one from a deceased donor since organs from a deceased person often have problems. Plus, the time it takes to get the organ to the recipient can often take 48 hours.

Silvestri said what is important is that people realize there is a good chance for a match, even if they're not related to the person.

According to Southwest Transplant Alliance, there were 1,264 non-related direct kidney donations last year.

Silvestri said understanding those might prompt more people to becoming a donor.

"There can be that six degrees of separation, and people can still donate," Silvestri said. "And that not only impacts the recipient but also their friends and family. If someone needs a donation, tell everyone because you don't know who is willing to do it."

Silvestri said there are more than 113,000 people across the country on the waiting list for an organ donation. Of those, almost 92,000 are waiting for a kidney.

While the odds of a match weren't too far-reaching, nobody is discounting the string of positive results that allowed the transplant to take place.

"I told my wife that I had a feeling Mrs. Bell was going to donate her kidney to me," Smith said. "Three weeks later, the Lord chose her to do this. I know He did. All my prayers had been answered."

With news of the matches, Bell knew she was going forward with the surgery.

"My son said, 'You're going to do this, aren't you?''' Bell said. "I said, 'Yes I am.'"

Going forward

Bell told her husband of her decision to have the surgery one night over a Frappe' at McDonalds. Bell said his reaction was not overwhelming but supportive.

"He knew that this was a decision of my heart, not my head," Bell said. "He saw this as a journey of his wife's heart."

Bell said once the couple arrived at Baylor Medical Center with its renowned transplant program, it gave him peace of mind.

More tests further calmed the family's nerves. A glofil test to examine Bell's kidney function revealed that her kidneys were strong enough to operate individually.

"It would be no detriment to my body," Bell said. "The remaining one increases in size, and as I hydrate, it takes over. So mine wouldn't have to work twice as hard. So because of that, I wasn't as concerned."

Smith, on the other hand, admits he had trouble understanding why Bell would go through this for someone she really didn't know.

"I talked to her on the phone, and I said, 'Why me?'' Smith said. "If my wife had told me she was going to do something like that, I don't know how I would have reacted. But she assured me everything was going to be fine."

And it was, despite some pain in the process.

"When she was in ICU, I had the nurse roll me into her room," Smith said. "I saw the pain that she was in, and I didn't want her to have that pain. I didn't think that I was worthy of someone doing that for me. It struck a nerve for me, and I wanted to take that pain away from her. She's a wonderful person, and she didn't deserve to go through that pain."

But before the surgery, Smith had been in pain, too.

In addition to the pain caused by the failed kidneys that he describes as intense enough to make him cry, Smith had to endure dialysis in which two 16-gauge needles were inserted into his arm for four hours a day, three days a week.

"I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy," Smith said.

After hearing about his experience and learning about his family -- Smith and his wife have eight combined children, two living at home -- Bell said there was no hesitation.

"I just wanted him to have a second lease on life," Bell said. "How could I look Sean in the face at school and know that I was a perfect match but that I didn't try?"

Coming home

Smith and Bell each returned home three days after the surgery.

And they were welcomed with a ton of support. Bell said church members and people from the school brought over food to help each family.

"Neither family has had to cook since we got home," Bell said.

Bell is still at home recovering but will be back at the end of April.

Smith, healthy for the first time in two years, has some big plans of his own.

"I need to find a job," Smith said. "I'm going to pray about what direction to go in. Another thing I want to do is to give back to the kidney foundation."

Smith said he wants to use his experience to address some of the problems he went through, specifically medical costs.

"I would like to talk to Congress about the importance of funding for transplants," Smith said. "I'm not saying this needs to be free, there needs to be laws that make medicine affordable. It was cheaper to have the transplant than to go through dialysis. One bill I got for dialysis was $2,400 per day. That's a lot of money. A lot of people who go through dialysis don't make it through because they can't afford the medicine."

Smith said he is currently taking 14 pills a day during his recovery, though that number should go down as he continues to improve.

He is also looking forward to more quality time with Sean, who, looking back, played a big role in the events that took place because of his tardy slip.

"Sean knows what I went through," Smith said. "I don't think it has fully hit him yet. That will probably take a couple of years. But he loves Mrs. Bell, and he knows that she did something to help his daddy."

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