This Preschool Teacher Surprised A Former Student With Liver Failure By Applying To Be His Organ Donor
As if good teachers don’t already give children enough, one teacher in New York is about to give so much more to one student who needs her help.
In Western New York, Karen and Ron Toczek were shaken when they found out their five-year-old adopted son, Ezra, would need a liver transplant.
“It’s been ‘easy’ to know he might need a transplant someday while not needing a transplant now,” wrote Karen on a GoFundMe page dedicated to Ezra’s recovery.
“His first year with us was eventful, with travel, hospitalizations, and surgeries. We had a solid three years of relatively good health and the ability to focus on other needs he has.”
“I was given the impression that our trip to NYC for transplant evaluation was ‘very preliminary’ and that there was still the possibility to try other interventions, that this was just to create a chart for him and get baseline information documented with the liver team. That was not the case.”
Ezra was terrifyingly diagnosed with liver disease, which led to liver failure, and he was put on the transplant list in February of this year.
However, the Toczek family didn’t realize they had already met the person who would later offer to save Ezra’s life via liver donation.
In March, Ezra’s former preschool teacher, Carissa Fisher, applied to be a living donor after learning about what he was going through.
A living donor is a healthy person who offers to donate part or an entire organ to another person who needs one.
Trendsetter Images – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual people
Amazingly, not only was Carissa approved to be a living donor, but she also found out she was a match for Ezra.
On May 25th, with her mom by her side, Carissa showed up at the Toczek’s door holding a sign that read, “Hey Ezra! Would you like to share my liver?”
It was a beautiful moment for all involved, and the Toczek’s couldn’t be more thrilled by the news.
“My brain literally couldn’t process what I was reading until she said it out loud,“ wrote Karen in a Facebook post.
“Miss Carissa is a perfect match! I can’t even begin to express our gratitude! The tears [kept] coming, and though I knew we’d be relieved to get the news eventually, I had no idea just how it would hit me!”
Now, Ezra will be able to move forward in his health journey, and his doctors may be able to perform the liver transplant as early as this summer.
Ezra will have a long recovery period ahead of him after his surgery, so the Toczek’s have set up a GoFundMe page for anyone who may want to donate and help them with medical bills.
We can’t wait to see how things work out for Ezra and Carissa, and we are sending our best wishes!
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More About:Human Interest