A teacher at an elementary school in Wisconsin has made the decision to donate one of her kidneys to a first grader with renal failure. Jodi Schmidt was heartbroken by 8-year-old Natasha Fuller’s inability to receive a kidney transplant despite being on the waiting list at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
According to WGRZ, Natasha, who lives with her grandparents, was born with Prune Belly Syndrome which requires her to need regular dialysis and can lead to urinary tract disease. Despite going for regular dialysis each week, she is now in renal failure and each time she develops an infection, she has to be temporarily taken off the transplant waiting list.
It was then that teacher Schmidt decided to give Natasha another option and said that it came to her after “a lot of thinking”.
It truly just came to me after I did a lot of thinking and praying
Schmidt, a mom of three, is described by the principal of the school, Becky Doyle as “extremely passionate, full of life and energy, and does everything 150%”. After finding out she was a match and notifying the principal of her decision, the two set out to announce the news to Natasha’s grandmother, Chris Burleton, in a special and ingenious way. Inviting her to the school to have a discussion about Natasha, Schmidt handed her a gift – announcing at the bottom of the box that she was a match. Burleton explains how she just “lost it”.
I just lost it. You could never tell this little girl has three tubes in her, she doesn’t let it faze her. She is happy and sassy, and she just wants to lead a normal life, and do things like go swimming.
If all goes well, Natasha will be admitted for the transplant later in March.
