Lumen Christi teacher donates a kidney to former student

            Lea Bouton, a current teacher at Lumen Christi High School (LCHS) in Anchorage, made the gift of donating her kidney to her former student, Jesse Batac in July 2025, saving his life.

            When Bouton met Batac nearly ten years ago he was a 10^th grade student in two of her classes at Dimond High School (DHS) in Anchorage. Four years earlier, Batac and his family learned that his advanced kidney disease would eventually require a kidney transplant. His doctor gave him the goal of graduating before starting dialysis. Bouton recalls that Batac probably mentioned his kidney issues at some point, “but he was just a really quiet, humble kid, so if it was on my radar it was minimally on my radar.” All of that changed in the summer of 2023.

After a routine lab draw Batac’s doctor called and asked if he was okay. Batac’s hemoglobin levels had dropped so low that it would have precluded most people from leaving bed. When he told her he was just heading out the door to go mountain biking she instructed him to have someone drive him to the ER instead. That same day he was admitted to the hospital with kidney failure. Batac’s condition was so critical that a port was placed directly to his heart to begin dialysis immediately. Batac notes, “Once your kidneys fail you probably have a few days left before your blood toxicity is so high that you basically get poisoned from your own blood.” Batac would now need to be on dialysis indefinitely unless he received a donated kidney.

            Kidney disease is present on both sides of Batac’s family disqualifying his parents, siblings, and other relatives from becoming his donor. Batac shares, “I was honestly hesitant to start asking people because I’m asking for an organ and it’s very hard to ask anybody to do that for you … I just didn’t feel deserving to be honest.” Despite his reservations, six friends volunteered to discover if they could be his donor. “I had a lot of friends from college reach out and offer, ‘Hey, you can take both my kidneys if you want!’” Batac says with a laugh, “I told them, ‘I can’t do that! I only need one.’” Of the six individuals only one, a friend named Oasis, was found to be an organ match. Unfortunately, at the last stage of screening Oasis’ 24-hour blood pressure test disqualified him.

            There was one other person who had asked Batac how to apply to be a donor. At a DHS event in May of 2024 for engineering students, Bouton asked Batac if he had a match. When she found out he didn’t she asked what she needed to do to start the screening process. While Batac willingly passed on the information, he didn’t think Bouton would end up being his donor given her responsibilities, “She has all the things that come with being a mom … so I gave her all the information and didn’t think too much about it until she texted me saying she passed the test.”

            It might have been motherhood that spurred Bouton to consider being a donor. “Jesse’s 25 years old and his mom can’t do this for him, and I would just hope that if one of my kids needed something that I couldn’t provide for them that somebody else would step forward to do that” she said. While Bouton didn’t hesitate to fill out the initial paperwork, the decision to become a donor was not one that she or her family took lightly. After beginning the screening process in the summer of 2024, Bouton and her husband had a last-minute opportunity to attend the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. Bouton recalls that across the street from the convention center were two posters featuring St. Gianna Molla and St. Maximilian Kolbe detailing the sacrifices each made and ending with #thisismybody. She said, “And it was very clear to me in that sense that this is a very eucharistic gift. This is my body that I can give up for Jesse if God wants to bless it in that way.” As members of St. Benedict’s parish, Bouton and her husband also had the support of their pastor Fr. Tom Lilly who shares, “Catholic teaching absolutely supports the donation of paired organs…In fact it’s considered a great act of charity.”

            In August 2024, only a few months after beginning the screening process and shortly before Bouton was to begin her fourth year teaching at LCHS, Bouton learned she was a match for Batac. Batac was amazed by the news. “I was like, you did all this in a couple months? Normally it takes a full year to schedule everything out and do all the [necessary tests].” Just 24 hours earlier he learned his friend Oasis would not be able to be his donor.

            Since Batac was medically stable, he and Bouton scheduled the transplant for the summer of 2025, so the procedure would not impact the 2024–2025 school year. Three weeks before the surgery, dialysis complications began to take a physical toll on Batac and his “stable state went to an unstable state” quickly, with sky-rocketing blood pressure that led to migraine headaches and a build up of fluid in his lungs making sleep possible only in a sitting position. Batac recalls, “I was in bed all day and couldn’t even lay down.”

            On July 20, 2025, Bouton successfully donated her kidney to Batac, an event that he describes as nothing short of miraculous. He said, “It’s kind of insane, the instant change. Overnight I could breathe. Overnight I could lay in bed and go to sleep. Overnight my blood pressure went down.” Other things surprised him too, “After kidney failure my circulation to my extremities was terrible. The day after my surgery I felt warmth in my hands … For two years I didn’t know what it was like to have warm hands …. All the things I took for granted before, and forgot that they existed, and then getting to feel them again overnight is such an amazing experience.”

            It’s fitting that Bouton’s kidney donation, inspired by the Eucharistic Congress, came to fruition in the current Jubilee Year dedicated to “Pilgrims of Hope.” Batac, who is a Christian, shares “I believe that none of this would have happened without God.” He remains awestruck by the generosity of all those who stepped forward and particularly thankful for Bouton’ donation, saying, “It’s a gift that literally will be with me for the rest of my life.”

            For her part, Bouton has enjoyed a good recovery and is pleased to that Batac did likewise, saying, “I am home and he is in Seattle doing very well. It is such a joy to see!”