Helena Intermediate School teacher Sarah Hopper will be giving the ultimate Christmas present to her father-in-law this year – the gift of life!  Hopper will be donating one of her kidneys on December 19 to her father-in-law, William “Butch” Hopper, who has been on dialysis since last December.

“He has no kidney function left,” Hopper said. “I decided to get tested last June to see if I could possibly be a match and I was!  I love my father-in-law and the waiting list off the regular donor list is seven-and-a- half years.  He is on full-time dialysis now and hooked up to machines.  He can’t travel and has no quality of life.  He couldn’t wait that long.”

Hopper said she underwent a battery of tests, both physical and phychological, to make sure she was a good donor candiate.  She was apprehensive at first, but after going through the tests and donor training, she is now very excited about the whole process.

“I have gone from being uncertain about it to really exicted,” she said. “I am really fine with it now.  I have never once thought I shouldn’t do it.  I have no regrets.  My father-in-law will have a much better quality of life now.”

Hopper is scheduled to have surgery at UAB Hospital on December 19 and will recover from her surgery over the holiday break. 

“My parents and students know about my surgery and they have been so supportive,” Hopper said.

Hopper has two children, ages five and six weeks.  She wants to be able to share with them one day the story of what she was able to do for their grandfather, whom they affectionatley refer to as “Bop”.

“This is something that is very doable,” she said. “It is something I want to encourage others to consider doing.”