Erin Durga has known Pat Mertens for years. Pat is the custodian at an elementary school in Minnesota, and every day, he comes into Erin’s third-grade classroom to help her clean up. Over the years, the two of them have become friends, so it didn’t take long for Erin and her fellow educators to realize something wasn’t right with Pat.
Three days a week, he was leaving early. They weren’t sure why until they found out he was experiencing kidney failure. They quickly set up fundraisers to help him pay for his medical care, but Erin wanted to go even further! When she heard he needed a new kidney, she rushed to find out if she could be his donor.
19 Dec 2020
A Minnesota third-grade teacher saved a school janitor’s life by donating one of her kidneys after she read a Facebook post pleading for someone to “help save a life.”
Custodian Pat Mertens’s daughter put out a call on Facebook pleading for someone to donate a kidney to her father.
Erin Durga, the third-grade teacher at Kimball Elementary School, had befriended Mertens from their evening talks while she finished her work and he cleaned the classroom, the
Washington Postreported.
When Durga learned that Mertens needed a kidney transplant, she immediately told her husband she planned to donate.
“About 30 seconds into reading this, I turn to my husband, and I said, Pat needs a kidney, it needs to be O-type blood, and I think it’s going to be me,” she said.
By: CBS News
Third-grade teacher Erin Durga s dad, who is also a teacher, once gave her a piece of advice: Befriend the school custodians because they are the heart of the school. But when custodian Pat Mertens needed something it wasn t a heart it was a kidney.
Too proud to ask for help on his own, his daughter pleaded on Facebook for someone to donate a kidney and help save a life.
Durga saw the post and told her husband she planned on donating a kidney. About 30 seconds into reading this, I turn to my husband, and I said, Pat needs a kidney, it needs to be O-type blood, and I think it s going to be me, she said.
CBS News
Teacher saves custodian s life with kidney donation
Last Updated Dec 17, 2020 7:11 PM EST
Third-grade teacher Erin Durga s dad, who is also a teacher, once gave her a piece of advice: Befriend the school custodians because they are the heart of the school. But when custodian Pat Mertens needed something it wasn t a heart it was a kidney.
Too proud to ask for help on his own, his daughter pleaded on Facebook for someone to donate a kidney and help save a life.
Durga saw the post and told her husband she planned on donating a kidney. About 30 seconds into reading this, I turn to my husband, and I said, Pat needs a kidney, it needs to be O-type blood, and I think it s going to be me, she said.
By Morgan Huelsman
Dec 17, 2020
Third-grade teacher Erin Durga got chills when she learned of someone in her school that needed help.
Durga and school custodian
64-year-old Pat Mertens work at Kimball Elementary School in Minnesota. They both started at the school the same year in 2011. For the past several years, their families paths have always crossed. Durga s children even call Mertens Papa after growing up in his wife s daycare.
Mertens was on dialysis and the school community was well aware, as he left the school for treatment three days a week. The school even organized a Hats for Pat fundraiser on January 31 to help pay for his transportations to dialysis. Things turned more severe when his daughter Kayla Matten posted a plea for a kidney donor to social media.