Texas Health Fort Worth
From the left are Randy, Joel, and Ava Nickerson. All three donated a kidney to a stranger, which is a first in Texas Health Fort Worth history.
Last year, three teachers made headlines when they forwent their Christmas vacations to undergo a major surgery to help a few people in need of a healthy kidney.
This surgical trifecta rendered kidneys from retired schoolteacher Louise Bailey, Highland Park Middle School special education teacher and coach, Mike Trevino, and Valley View High School science teacher Ava Nickerson.
Although these teachers all had individual reasons for wanting to donate their kidneys, Ava’s was unique in the fact that hers went to a complete stranger. Her inspiration for making this kind gesture stems back to her own son Joel, who altruistically donated one of his kidneys to a stranger in 2023.
“I teach anatomy and am always amazed by how our body is created,” Ava said. “Even though I have two kidneys, I know that my body can function with one. A person whose kidneys are not functioning properly does not feel well, so my prayer is that the recipient will have a much better quality of life.”
Adding to this feel-good scenario was a recent kidney donation from Ava’s husband, and Joel’s father Randy. On July 24, Randy became the third person in his family to donate a kidney to a stranger; proof that paying it forward is contagious.
“I just look at our lives and my life and how blessed we’ve been, and I’ve got one to give and if somebody can use it, then why not?” said Randy, a 70-year-old licensed professional counselor and retired firefighter. “It’s just what we should do.”
All three of the Nickerson’s surgeries were performed at Texas Health Fort Worth, which marks a first for the institution.
“Since our kidney transplant program began in 1986, we have never before had two living donors from the same immediate family,” said Robyn Dye, administrator of the program. “To know that three members of the same family volunteered to give life to strangers in need is truly amazing, and we are grateful that Texas Health Fort Worth was able to play a part.”
The spark that actually started this whole scenario took root when Joel read a magazine article by a man who had given his kidney to a stranger.
“I didn’t even know it was possible,” Joel says. “I knew people needed kidneys but didn’t know how it happened.”
And just like that, Joel went to the National Kidney Foundation website and signed up to be a donor.
After his operation, Joel’s mother Ava toyed with the idea of donating a kidney after learning a friend of a friend needed one.
“I reached out to Texas Health, and then Randy saw the email,” Ava says. “I didn’t tell him I was going to do it.”
Post op, Randy says he was inspired to follow in his son and wife’s footsteps, but felt he was too old to donate a kidney. But, after doing some research, he found out that there is no maximum age limit to donating.
“I had the luxury of walking alongside Ava every step of her trip. I went to Fort Worth with her, all of her tests and everything she’d gone through, I knew what to expect … and they make it as easy as possible for you,” he said.
To date, Texas Health Fort Worth has facilitated more than 1,250 transplants since the program’s beginning in 1986; Randy was its 173rd living donor.
“You see that this is having a real-life impact on a person,” Randy says. “That put a little more emphasis on it and made it a little easier to drive to Fort Worth and back every time we had to go down there. You know, hopefully, it’s going to impact somebody’s life for the better.”