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organ donation

Education

Teacher donates kidney to a first-grade student so that she can "lead a normal life"

"We gave her a gift box, and under the tissue paper was a card with the words: 'It's a match."

Photo pulled from YouTube video

Natasha has rare condition and needs a kidney.

“You could never tell this little girl has three tubes in her."

Natasha Fuller is just 8 years old, but her grandmother, Chris Burleton, told the Fond du Lac Reporter that she doesn't let her medical condition faze her. “She is happy and sassy, and she just wants to lead a normal life, and do things like go swimming.”

Natasha was born with a rare abdominal muscle condition called Eagle-Barrett Syndrome, or "prune belly syndrome." Among other things, this means that her eight years of life so far have been plagued by urinary tract complications. She lives with her grandparents in Oakfield, Wisconsin — some 400 miles away from her parents and twin sister in Oklahoma — where it's easier to see the doctor, including thrice-weekly trips to the hospital for kidney dialysis.

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Logan Boulet was one of the Canadian hockey players who passed away after a horrific bus accident.

The Humboldt Broncos' team bus collided with a semi-truck traveling to a play-off game in central Saskatchewan on Friday, April 6. 15 people, including the bus driver, team coach, and several players — were killed.

Just a few weeks ago, on his 21st birthday, Boulet made a heroic decision. He signed up to be an organ donor.

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Watch Selena Gomez dedicate an award to the friend who saved her life.

More than 116,000 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant.

Earlier this year, when Selena Gomez needed a kidney transplant, one of her friends came through with a life-saving donation.

Actress Francia Raisa was starring on ABC Family's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" when she met Gomez during a children's hospital event in 2007, and they have remained close friends ever since. In 2013, Gomez underwent chemotherapy to treat lupus, something she went public with two years later. As a result of her illness and treatment, Gomez needed a new kidney.

Naturally, Raisa offered one of hers.

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Retired judge Howard Broadman helped his grandson get a kidney in the future — and he didn't even need time travel to do it.

He did have to make an incredibly generous move, though.

Three years ago, he donated one of his kidneys — not to his beloved grandson, but to a total stranger. Yep. You read that right. A stranger.

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