DALLAS —
Marshall Smith is convinced his son's kindergarten teacher is his "sister from another mother."
It's clearly not a matter of looks, and he and Marie Bell met only months ago. But the two are "attached at the kidney," Bell said, ever since she donated one of hers to Smith in May.
"There's no 'almost' — we are family," the 50-year-old Smith said. "It's a strange, good relationship. We are two different people from two different lands.
"What are the chances of a black man and a white lady sitting down to have surgery and everything coming down to be a perfect match?"
Two months have passed since the surgery that married the families and changed all of their lives. And though the pain from the operation has subsided, the families' bond will outlast their scars.
"Our families are forever going to be intertwined," Bell said.
When Bell decided to be screened as Smith's potential donor in mid-January, the two had only shaken hands a few times at Highland Village Elementary School. That was it.
Yet the 47-year-old teacher said she didn't need to know the man to be confident in her decision. His 5-year-old son, Sean, was reason enough. She was heartbroken when she found out Smith, who received dialysis three times a week, was too sick to play with his son.
"I felt like this man needs a kidney," she said. "He needs to be in better health to raise his son. . What better gift to be able to give someone than to be able to give back their life in some form?"
According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, nearly 9,000 Texans are on waiting lists for kidney donations, and about 71 percent of kidney recipients in the state waited over a year for their transplants. While they wait, dialysis strains other organs.
Smith said he was originally skeptical about donation, especially after a setback in December when a potential donor organ turned out to be diseased. He'd been on the transplant list for months, and, after the false alarm, he said he was preparing to "die in peace."
Fortunately, Bell talked him into the procedure.
In the past two months, he's lived in a way he hadn't thought possible before the surgery. He's seen his wife graduate from college, his daughter married and his granddaughter born.
Newly able to join his son on family walks, he said he feels like Superman — "alive and whole again."
With his head on his father's chest, Sean announced, "Your heart's beeping!"
"I sure hope it's beeping," Bell responded.
Smith said his doctor promised that, because of the surgery, because of Bell, his heart is sure to keep "beeping" for many more healthy years.
State News
Texas teacher donates kidney to student's father
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