A teacher’s job is to inspire their students to follow their dreams, while ensuring that they learn the necessary skills for their future. In London, one teacher at the Royal Docks Community School has gone beyond the call of duty by donating a kidney to ensure that one of his students will get a chance to live a longer life.
When Ray Coe, a special education needs coordinator, found out that one of his students was on dialysis with failing kidneys he knew that he would help her in any way that he could. Thirteen year old Alya Ahmed Ali has a condition called hydrocephalus that causes fluid buildup inside of the skull, which also caused her renal failure and learning disabilities.
He contacted Alya’s parents to offer the support of the school and in a moment decided that he could do something on a personal level, he put his name down as a donor. Coe told the Good News blog, “I didn’t know the full details of what that meant, but I’m educated enough to know what being a donor means. The risks and complications… my thought was, any chance is better than none.”
One of the most special moments was the great big hug Alya’s gave her teacher when she found out that he was the person giving her a kidney. “I really didn’t think it was a big deal until people said it was a big deal,” Coe says. “I just wanted to help. Other people made me realize that it went beyond what a teacher would normally do.”
While you don’t have to give a kidney to change someone’s life, just being aware of how a small act of kindness such as picking up someone else’s dropped item, letting a person skip you in line, or simply telling someone they look nice, can day a positive impact on a person’s day. How has someone simply being kind to you changed a stressful day?
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