Teacher donates kidney to student she never met

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) - Heather Mallet is a science teacher at F.K. White Middle School, she’s now scheduled to donate a kidney to a student who once attended the school.

“Never doubted it, never blinked an eye, it’s just something I know I’m supposed to do,” Mallet said.

During the 2016-2017 school year, then 12-year-old Hayden Diaz’s kidneys gave up on him. His mom Gloria says they moved to Texas to be closer to family. She says now her son is bound to a dialysis machine every night.

“They’re functioning at less than 10 percent so every night for about 13 hours he’s hooked to the machine,” Diaz said. “So the machine acts as a big kidney for him to take out all the toxins that he can’t get rid of on his own.”

Though he was never in one of Mallet's classes, she says she felt a calling to help.

“In 2016, I had a very good friend who was suffering from diabetes and doing dialysis and I convinced him to let me donate a kidney to him," Mallet said. “And he would always tell me to donate to a child.”

Mallet’s friend passed away later that year.

"About 6 months later, Hayden enrolled at F.K. White, his kidneys failed, both kidneys failed, and I just knew that it was a sign," says Mallet.

Mallet says she just wants Hayden to have the regular life so many kids take for granted.

“I think about what I see kids every day able to do that he’s not able to do. We take those things for granted,” Mallet said.

The Diaz family says they are blessed to have someone like Mallet in their life.

“It feels amazing, it’s like a huge blessing. I’m ready and I know he is for the next step, and for him to be off of it and just be a kid again,” Diaz said.

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