Student back in school, with teacher who gave her kidney

West Side Academy senior A'Ja Booth, left, and her teacher Nadirah Muhammad enter a welcome rally Tuesday for Booth at the school in Detroit. In December, Muhammad donated a kidney to Booth.
West Side Academy senior A'Ja Booth, left, and her teacher Nadirah Muhammad enter a welcome rally Tuesday for Booth at the school in Detroit. In December, Muhammad donated a kidney to Booth.

DETROIT (AP) - An 18-year-old returned to her Detroit high school Tuesday with a new kidney, donated by her gym teacher.

Students threw confetti as A'Ja Booth entered the West Side Academy, walking arm-in-arm with Nadirah Muhammad down a red carpet in the gym. Muhammad, 39, gave Booth the kidney for transplant in December.

"I'm blessed and I'm thankful," Booth told the students, fighting back tears.

For four years, she left school early three days a week to undergo kidney dialysis.

Muhammad said she overheard Booth last May talking to another teacher about a book she was writing about her health struggles.

"After I read her story, I immediately decided that I wanted to volunteer to donate one of my kidneys," the teacher told the Detroit Free Press. "If that was my child, I would want someone to do the same. It was a no-brainer."

On Dec. 15, an operating crew at Henry Ford Hospital removed Muhammad's kidney, placed it in a cooling solution packed in ice in a cooler and rushed it to an operating room at Children's Hospital three miles away, where Booth was waiting.

Henry Ford surgeon Dr. Jason Denny transplanted the kidney into Booth.

"I've had a lot of combinations, but I don't know about student-teacher," the doctor said. "We've had ex-wives, and bosses and their employees."

The transplant was a success. Booth now takes more than 20 pills day, some designed to ensure her body doesn't reject the new organ. She said she is healthy and happy and looking forward to the future.

Booth, who is set to graduate June 8, said she plans to attend Oakland University and wants to be a nurse.

"We expect nothing but grand and glorious things for you," West Side Academy's Principal Andrea Ayler told Booth.