DALLAS — Three North Texas teachers are being praised for their generosity: They each donated a kidney to someone in need last month.
Texas Health announced the donations this week. The donation surgeries happened at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth over a three-day span shortly before Christmas, on Dec. 20-22, the hospital said.
Texas Health shared the stories of Louise Bailey, Ava Nickerson and Mike Trevino - and the recipients they donated to - in a news release this week.
Bailey, a retired teacher who works as an assistant at Thompson Elementary in the Northwest school district, donated a kidney to her former college roommate, Kathy Knowles.
Bailey and Knowles reconnected back in 2020 and lived in the same apartment complex. Knowles was suffering from stage 4 kidney disease when Bailey had a realization at the driver's license office. On the question about becoming an organ donor, Bailey thought about it: "Why don't I just do it now?"
She called Knowles, who told her no, but Bailey was determined.
"That was stupid for me to say because Louise is the most determined person in the world," Knowles said.
Ava Nickerson, a science teacher at Valley View High School in Cooke County, donated a kidney to someone she didn't even know, following in the footsteps of her son, who donated a kidney of his own earlier in 2023.
"If my son could give his heart away and still live, he would do that," Nickerson said. "He's a very generous young man. I saw how he did ... and thought, 'I can do this.'"
Mike Trevino, a special education teacher at Highland Park Middle School, donated a kidney to Mason Williams, who he used to coach with at Fort Worth Polytechnic High School.
Williams was born with one kidney and was going through medical problems. When Trevino tested to see if his kidney was a match - and it was - he decided to make the donation.
"The way I looked at it, they have a daughter that is the same age as my grand-daughter," Trevino said. "I've had a great life and by no means do I think I'm anywhere near it being over, but he had too much going for him to be unhealthy, and to die soon would just be awful."
The donation surgery also brought Trevino and Williams closer together, despite only working together for a couple short years.
"You're giving another human being another chance at life, really," Williams said.
