Living Kidney Donation At Mass General Hospital Restores Photojournalist’s Health After Sudden Cardiac Crisis

WBZ Colleague Andrea Courtois Donates kidney To Jared Higginbotham After Five-Year Wait

USA: WBZ assignment manager Andrea Courtois donated one of her kidneys to WBZ photojournalist Jared Higginbotham after he spent five years on a waiting list; surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital performed the living-donor transplant in mid-November with nurse Allison Bomb serving as the live donor transplant coordinator. Courtois was discharged the day after surgery and attributed a rapid recovery to the care she received.

In the days after the operation Courtois was walking more than a mile as she healed, while Higginbotham reported substantial improvement in energy and well-being from the new kidney. Within weeks, however, he experienced sudden cardiac symptoms; hospital teams stabilized him with medication and prioritized allowing the transplanted kidney to recover before further interventions.

On December 29 Higginbotham underwent quintuple bypass surgery. Courtois was among the first visitors as he began cardiac recovery, underscoring how intertwined donor and recipient journeys can become when complications arise. Medical teams coordinated care across transplant and cardiac services to manage the complex timeline.

Higginbotham has since returned to work, crediting the transplant with restoring his vitality and Courtois for giving him that chance. Family members and clinicians at Massachusetts General highlighted the transplant as a vivid example of how living donation, coordinated transplant care, and swift cardiac surgery can combine to save and reshape lives.

Video originally published on 2026-04-01 11:16:20