School superintendent donates kidney to teacher

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — A school superintendent in Massachusetts went above and beyond by giving a life-saving gift to one of her teachers.

Dave Collins is a beloved teacher who, after decades of living with kidney disease, was faced with end stage renal failure. He needed a new kidney to stay alive. That’s when Dave’s Boss, superintendent Heidi Riccio, stepped in, calling him to say she was a match and would donate her kidney.

She says the hospital made the whole thing as easy as possible to do the right thing. “I had the surgery on Tuesday, I was home on Wednesday and I went back to work remotely on Monday,” Riccio said. “You do it because it’s the right thing to do. And my parents always taught me to do what is right, not what is easy.”

Dave says he plans to be back in the classroom after spring break.

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