Kidney transplant co-workers doing well after surgery

A Hilltop Elementary School teacher and a co-worker who gave her a kidney are doing well after transplant surgery Thursday.

Wendy Wood, a special education paraprofessional at the Bonaire school, agreed to give a kidney to kindergarten teacher Shannon Grieshop even though they barely knew each other.

Wood’s husband, Jason, said Thursday afternoon that both were doing well after the surgery, although it did not go perfectly.

“There were some complications in getting the kidney to take in Ms. Shannon, but they got it figured out,” he said. “Everything is fine now.”

The surgery was performed at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Both women were in recovery, and he was expecting them to be moved to rooms soon.

Grieshop’s kidneys were failing as a result of polycystic kidney disease. After she put a letter in the mailbox of every staff member at the school letting them know of her plight, Wood responded that she was willing to donate a kidney. Tests showed that the two were a match.

As a show of support, students and staff on Thursday wore green, which is the color of kidney disease awareness.

Jason Wood said he “100 percent supported” his wife’s decision to donate the kidney.

“She just felt like God was putting it in her heart to do it,” he said. “We don’t second guess. We just go with it.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Kidney transplant co-workers doing well after surgery."