(Newswire.net — March 3, 2017) –Lyla, a five-year-old, was diagnosed with microscopic polyangitis, a rare autoimmune disorder. She was on dialysis for 12 hours a day.
Her family started a nationwide donor search, but the results came back negative for a compatible donor. Because of multiple blood transfusions, it was more difficult to find an exact match for her.
Lyla’s mom, Dena Carreyn, was desperate, and wrote on Facebook that her daughter needs a donor to save her life.
Beth Battista, a mother of two and a teacher at Kids Express Learning Center which Lyla was attending, read this Facebook post and decided to be tested and see if she is a match.
And, she was!
“After searching the entire country, it is a true miracle that I am her match. I feel blessed to be able to save her life and give her the future she deserves” said the teacher to Daily Mail, who was determined to go on a transplant surgery to save the 5-year-old girl’s life.
“I may just be her teacher now, but soon a little piece of me will be with Lyla forever. I’m Lyla’s kidney donor, ” wrote the teacher, Beth Battista, in a letter to Lyla’s mom, Dena Carreyn, after she had decided to become a living donor to her little student.
“I’ve always had a feeling that there was something more that I was supposed to do in my life,” Battista told the Inside Edition, and added: “She deserves a normal life, one where she can learn and explore like any other 5-year-old.”
A successful kidney transplant was performed in Madison hospital in November last year. Both Battista and Lyla are now doing well. Battista was able to return home two days after the surgery, and the little girl is on her way to full recovery.
Carreyn said that the 48 hours of discomfort or pain is a small price to pay for saving somebody’s life.
“Many people think teachers are heroes. Beth Battista is more than our hero; she is our miracle,” Lyla’s mom wrote on Facebook.
“I hope that other people will be able to do the same and save more lives,” said Carreyn.
