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It's no secret that teachers can change the lives of their students, but sometimes it's the other way around. That's what one professor in North Carolina learned when one of her students stepped up to offer a life-saving gift.
Valerie Bishop, a cosmetology professor at Wake Tech, has been battling kidney disease for the past eight years but the disease progressed to stage 5 renal failure a few months ago, per ABC 11. While she had tried to hide her battle from her students, her kidney function has dropped so low that she can no longer keep it to herself.
"I shared with my students that I may be missing some tie because I had to do doctor appointments. And they were inquiring what was going on," she said.
When she opened up about the severity of her diagnosis, she was surprised to see one of her students step up and offer a life-saving gift. Carrie Fisher told her professor that she wants to donate one of her kidneys.
"I'm like, 'Girl, bye! No, you can't do that,'" Bishop recalled. "And she was like, 'Yes, I can.'"
Fisher stuck her ground, saying, "When I wanna do something, I do it. I'm an arm twister."
Since volunteering to be a donor late last year, Fisher has gone through several tests to determine if she was a match for Bishop, even losing weight to reach a lower body mass index, the news outlet reports. The long process all culminated in a phone call Fisher received from UNC Hospitals letting her know, finally, that she was a match. She recalled the moment she told Bishop of the match.
"I said which one do you want? The left? Or the right" We're a match, baby," she said. "She just started [bawling]. She said, 'I can't believe this.'"
While the pair are a match, there's still some tests Fisher has to undergo before they can complete the donation. Until then, however, Bishop is surrounded by community support and an online fundraiser to help with medical costs and her recovery.
"They have definitely showed their love," she said of her students. "They have stepped above and beyond."