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Ex-Teacher to Students: Can You Spare a Kidney?

April 23, 2014, 6:23 AM

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Retired Hamtramck teacher Stanley Nalepa, 65,  is hoping one of his former students gives him a kidney .

Maurielle Lue of Fox 2 interviewed Nalepa, who taught in Hamtramck for 31 years. He said he was initially reluctant to try and get a kidney because he thought someone younger should get one. 

"At first, I wasn't going to get [a donated kidney] for humanitarian reasons. I wanted the younger people to have it instead of me. Then, I thought of my grandkids - 13, 5 and 4 [years old]. I want to see them grow up and do things," he told Fox 2.

Then a nurse urged him to put out something on social media about his need. He's friends with nearly 300 former students on his Facebook page.

He says he can't believe the responses he's gotten so far from his students.

He says some students have been tested but weren't a match. So it's not clear if he'll get a kidney.

Still, he says:

"This might be my lucky stars, these students. I taught them, and they taught me a lot now about compassion. One student said she's going to start a kidney donor campaign just for me, and that really got to me. I wasn't very emotional in class; I was the tough guy. But now, every phone call or every time I read [a message], it really gets to me and it's sinking in how much I had an impact on these students' lives."


Read more:  Fox 2


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