Preschool teacher to give kidney to student’s father: 'She's giving me a second chance at life'
Darreld Petersen, 34, will receive a kidney from Nancy Bleuer, 54, on June 1.
— -- An Iowa dad will undergo a life-saving transplant thanks to his son's teacher.
Darreld Petersen, 34, will receive a kidney from Nancy Bleuer, 54, who is donating her organ to him on June 1.
"It's just amazing," Petersen of Mason City, Iowa, told ABC News. "There are people waiting every day for a kidney, for an organ in general. I wish there were more people like her. She's giving me a second chance at life."
Petersen, dad to 4-year-old Camden, said he learned in January that he had renal kidney failure and went on dialysis.
"It wasn't until I ended up going to the ER and my doctor, the next day during a follow up .. she noticed that my hemoglobin count was extremely low," Petersen recalled. "They did a biopsy that showed 20 percent [kidney] function."
Nancy Bleuer, an educator at Washington Charlie Brown Preschool & Childcare in Mason City, told ABC News that when she heard about Petersen's health issues, she volunteered to be tested as a possible donor. Soon after, she learned she was a match.
"I was really excited about it," Bleuer said. "I was ecstatic. I don't know what I would've done for closure if I wasn't [a match]."
Bleuer said Petersen was extremely grateful for her selfless gift.
"Here was Darreld [Petersen] and his son with a dozen huge roses and I'm crying but of course, it was very nice," she added. "The day he found out, I said, 'We're on, it's a go.' Then, he came over and hugged me and he said, 'Oh my gosh.'
She went on, "It was a very cool response and it's good to know that I'll be able to go to Camden's high school graduation one day and talk about this and think, 'Well, that was crazy.'"
Petersen and Bleuer will have surgery at University of Iowa Hospital next month.
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