'Hero' teacher donates kidney to his 6th-grade student
Kaden Koebcke, 12, was diagnosed with a kidney disease when he was 2 years old.
A Georgia teacher made a life-changing donation to a sixth-grade student who had been in desperate need of a new kidney for a decade.
Kaden Koebcke, 12, was diagnosed with a kidney disease when he was just 2 years old, his mother, Cami Koebcke told ABC News.
When he was 5, he underwent a transplant after his father donated him a kidney. The transplant was not successful prompting him to have the new kidney removed a few days later, according to his mom.
Since then his family has been looking for people who were willing to donate him a kidney.
Kaden underwent dialysis at home three times a week for about eight years and, then, at a clinic in the last two years, Cami Koebcke said.
He has given Kaden the chance of living a normal life! He is truly our hero! I want to thank his family because they are a part of this, too.
A year ago, Cami Koebcke started a Facebook page called Kaden's Kidney Search, hoping to find generous people who could donate him a kidney. Several people got interested and tested, she said.
“We had tested our family members and nobody could be candidates," she said. "So we had to look outside the family."
In May, Kaden’s doctor told them that there was a match for him but the family did not know the identity of the donor.
The donor was William Wilkinson of Paulding County and also Kaden’s sixth-grade technology teacher at Grace Christian Academy in Powder Springs.
“It's Kaden's technology teacher. Their son is actually in the same class as Kaden,” Cami Koebcke explained.
“He [William Wilkinson] had told me that he was going to try to see if he was a candidate but that was months and months ago,” she said.
“Finally he and his family came over to our house, and he told us in person that it was him,” the mom said. “I'm amazed that this is all worked out and that you know he's doing so well. It absolutely amazes me.”
A week ago, Cami Koebcke wrote a post on Facebook to thank her son's teacher.
“I can’t come up with the words to describe how much we appreciate Will Wilkinson,” she wrote.
“He has given Kaden the chance of living a normal life! He is truly our hero! I want to thank his family, because they are a part of this too!” Cami Koebcke said.
Veronica Wilkinson, William Wilkinson’s wife, said that she's grateful to see her husband do such a good deed.
"Kaden needed a kidney and he was a match, and so I'm glad that he decided to do it,” Veronica Wilkinson told ABC News.
“He's a good person in general," she said. "That's why I married him."
She went on to add that her husband felt he needed to see if he was a match.
“He said God placed it on his heart -- that he needs to see if he's a match," she said. "So when he said it... I was like, 'that's awesome.'"
