ELWOOD — Angie Collins has become a teacher’s pet, though it may have taken 22 years and a kidney.
Collins, 40, donated her kidney this week to her former Elwood Community High School English teacher Darren Paquin.
“I can’t help but think that our paths crossed a long time ago as a student and teacher; I think God knew all along that this was the plan,” said Paquin sitting in her room at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.
“He works in mysterious ways, doesn’t he?”
Her surgery was Tuesday. She’ll head home on Sunday for Mother’s Day.
Collins, the mother of three, is to go home this week but was recuperating Thursday from her surgery.
“I thought and prayed for about two months,” Collins said. “I wanted to make the decision to donate first, before I ever found out if I would be a match.
“Then, when I made the decision to donate, I knew I was a match. I knew it in my heart.”
Her husband, Dean, explained that his wife felt compelled to offer a kidney after she first heard about the need.
“She knew she wanted to do it and she knew she was supposed to,” he said.
Before surgery, Paquin was among 814 people in Indiana — and 76,629 nationally — awaiting a kidney transplant.
Nationally and in Indiana, those awaiting kidneys form the largest group of patients needing transplants, said the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization.
Through Web sites and public awareness, patients don’t always have to rely on family members to serve as donors, though there is typically an 18- to 24-month wait.
“With the new easier procedures, we have a lot more nonrelated living donors, just friends or a church member who hears about the need,” said Dr. Charles Carter Jr., her specialist in nephrology and internal medicine.
In high school, Collins — then Angie Melvin — was Paquin’s student in speech and composition.
“She ended up being my little student who becomes special, a good friend, not a teacher’s pet, although she is a teacher’s pet now,” laughed Paquin, 60.
The Paquins and Collins have been close, living in the same neighborhood and socializing together.
Collins is president of the Elwood Chamber of Commerce and executive director of the St. Vincent Mercy Hospital Foundation.
Paquin, who taught English for 32 years, has had two heart transplants. The last one in 1999 put a stress on her kidneys due to immunosuppressants and catheters, she said.
Doctors tested Paquin’s son and daughter, but they were unable to be donors.
Paquin said, “So Angie said to me, ‘If your kids are unable to do this, I want to be tested. I want to do this for you.’”
“They went on and tested her and she was a match.”
Kidneys are more in demand than any other organ, noted Sam Davis, director of professional services for the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization.
“Unfortunately it’s a reflection of public health,” Davis said.
Kidneys are damaged by people who have uncontrolled or undiagnosed diabetes and high blood pressure, he said.
By the time they see an internist, dialysis can only help to a certain degree. That leaves a transplant as often the best option, he said.
-------------
Patients awaiting transplants
(nationally and statewide)
Heart: National: 2,658 State: 32
Heart/Lung: National: 100 State: 0
Lung: National: 2,098 State: 46
Liver: National: 16,367 State: 45
Kidney: National: 76,629 State: 814
Kidney/Pancreas: National: 2,283 State: 51
Pancreas: National: 1,627 State: 14
Intestine: National: 228 State: 6
Total Patients: National: 98,525 State: 939
Source: Indiana Organ Procurement Organization
-------------
To register as a donor: www.donatelifeindiana.org
Home News (ADS ONLY)
May 8, 2008
6:38 p.m.: UPDATE: Kidney donor now teacher’s pet
- Home News (ADS ONLY)
-
-
Photo gallery: AU vs Mount Saint Joseph Baseball
Photos from the baseball double header and senior night for Anderson University and Mount Saint Joseph on 5/7/10.
-
Comedian Harland Williams coming to Paramount
LOS ANGELES — Canadian Harland Williams was enjoying winter in Southern California. “It’s beautiful out,” said Williams, 47, familiar from roles in films like “Dumb & Dumber” and “There’s Something About Mary.” “A bit cold, but is 65 cold? I’ll take this cold any day, thank you.” Williams, whose Indiana performances have been exclusive to Crackers in Broad Ripple, will take the stage at the Paramount on Friday, April 2.
-
Nancy Wood back in Anderson, with ASO
ANDERSON — Nancy Wood stared into the glass vase, full of clear water, with the bare roots of a plant dangling down into it.
-
Auction deal for buyers, not for owners
ANDERSON — An auction held Saturday at a former, popular cabinet manufacturer resulted in deals for local woodwork hobbyists and businesses, but earned less than the new owners hoped for.
-
Ann Duran on the air in Madison County
DALEVILLE — As a child, radio personality Ann Duran remembers her father calling her his mini-Barbara Walters.
-
Weights, measures officials protect consumers
ANDERSON — Whether consumers are filling up their cars’ gas tanks, buying a gallon of milk or drying clothes at a laundromat, one man in Anderson makes sure they always get their money’s worth.
-
AHS rocking to 'Schoolhouse Rock Live!'
ANDERSON, Ind. — With the end of the school year quickly approaching, Anderson High School Performing Arts students are springing into a favorite pastime. With the help of their director of six years, Tiffany Jackson, the group of 12 is putting on a musical, “Schoolhouse Rock Live!”
-
Anderson native to lead county ghost tour
ANDERSON — Growing up in Madison County, Nicole Kobrowski liked to visit some of the area’s creepier places, such as Moss Island Road just west of the city.
-
Sidewalk Prophets looking for a Dove
Sidewalk Prophets know how to please a crowd when they sing Christian pop at concerts across the nation.
Now, they’d like fans to reciprocate to help the band win a Dove Award. -
At Home: Project a bonding experience
PENDLETON — When a four-year project goes on for seven years, the result is often a strained marriage.
- More Home News (ADS ONLY) Headlines
-
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
