Tampa General Hospital: Teacher’s Living Kidney Gift To Stranger Highlights 100,000 On Waiting List

Hillsboro County Teacher Receives kidney transplant From Stranger Colleague After Years On Dialysis

USA: A Hillsboro County elementary school teacher who spent nearly four years on dialysis received a life-changing kidney transplant at Tampa General Hospital, giving her a rare second chance to return to the classroom. Myra Nevvis, diagnosed in 2018 with an immune disorder that led to kidney failure, had been waiting for a match while managing dialysis and hoping to resume teaching at Pinerest Elementary School in Lithia.

The donor turned out to be another Hillsboro County educator, Jenna Fulcan, who answered a social media appeal and was quickly evaluated and confirmed as a compatible O positive match. Motivated in part by personal loss and a desire to spare another family similar pain, Fulcan moved through testing and surgery in a matter of weeks. Surgeons at Tampa General performed the transplant three days before Christmas; both teachers have since begun recovery and forged a deep bond that grew out of an extraordinary act of generosity between strangers turned “kidney sisters.”

Physicians at Tampa General emphasize that living donor transplantation offers clinical advantages, often enabling faster recovery and longer-term survival for recipients. The case underscores the persistent national need: nearly 30,000 kidney transplants were performed last year, yet roughly 100,000 people remain on waiting lists. Hospital officials are highlighting living donation as a critical pathway to reduce that gap and to change more lives through planned, safe donation procedures.

Video originally published on 2026-01-30 18:50:02