High School Math Teacher Set To Donate Kidney To His Student & Shows Immeasurable Kindness

Jul 18, 2023

Kindness is behavior projected by acts of generosity, rendering assistance, consideration, or concern for others without expecting praise or any reward. As humans, it is natural for us to be kind under the right circumstances. Due to human bias, one person can't show equal kindness to everyone; this explains why there are generally four theories to explain kindness: kin altruism, reciprocal altruism, mutualism, and competitive altruism. These theories explain kindness toward family, colleagues, friends, spouses, and strangers under the right conditions.

Although kindness to everyone is essential, the one shown to people battling with ailments and sickness goes a long way toward making them feel better. An act of kindness may not heal the sick, but showing compassion to a sick person may trigger a positivity in them that will hasten their recovery process. What's more, it doesn't have to be overboard; a simple get well soon, a genuine smile and words of affirmation make a sick person feel better.

More than just kindness, there are times when sick people require people to make sacrifices for them. Making sacrifices for an ill person involves an ample amount of self-denial that could range from limiting financial spending to support their treatment to donating an organ to give them another chance at life. 

In one such case, a Whitmer High School math teacher Eddie McCarthy in Toledo, Ohio, was set to show an immeasurable act of kindness and self-sacrifice on July 19, 2023, to his student, Roman McCormick, who needed a kidney donor. His reason was to give the student "his teenage years back."

McCarthy has stepped up to end the search for a matching kidney donor for his student, Roman. The math teacher who taught Roman geometry was doing more than imparting knowledge to the teenager: he gave him another chance at life.

Roman, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, has branchiootorenal (BOR) syndrome, which, according to MedlinePlus, disrupts the development of tissues in the neck and causes malformations of the ears and kidneys.

In an interview with The Monroe News, Roman’s mother, Jamie Reed, revealed that he was born with BOR syndrome, a condition passed to him from his dad, Dan McCormick. Reed revealed that Roman had to undergo surgery at 6 months old to remove the cysts from the sides of his ears and chest. 

He was finally diagnosed with the condition at 12 months and underwent another surgery when he was 4 years old. Over time, his kidney function continually depreciated, leading to stage 4 kidney failure that left him with two options; to get a kidney transplant or go on dialysis. 

The family settled for the transplant and went on a media campaign in February 2023 in search of a matching Kidney donor. During this campaign, the math teacher saw Roman’s need for a kidney donor and decided to go through with the test to see if he was a match.

“I saw Romans in the news in February, and I saw that he needed a kidney, and so the next day, I went and got tested. I wasn’t even sure what my blood type was,” McCarthy said in an interview with WTVG.

After five months of various tests, McCarthy found he was a perfect match for Roman. The donation and transplant surgeries would occur on July 19, 2023, at the University of Michigan University Hospital in Ann Arbor, and McCarthy felt "just very excited" to help his student.

What do you think of Eddie McCarthy donating his kidney to his student? What do you think of his immeasurable act of kindness? What length would you go for a person with a long-term illness? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends and family members.