Gift Of Life: Essex Tech Superintendent Donates Kidney To Teacher

DANVERS, MA — A year into a search for a kidney transplant match, Essex Tech masonry teacher David Collins learned that a life-saving match was right down the hallway of the Danvers school in the office of Superintendent Heidi Riccio.

Three weeks ago, Collins and Riccio underwent surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital during which Collins, who had been battling kidney disease for 20 years, received one of his supervisor's kidneys.

Riccio had begun screening to become a kidney donor three years ago and said she did not hesitate to donate to her friend and coworker when finding out they were a match.

"If you can do something to improve someone's quality of life, you do it," she said in a school news release on Monday.

Collins has taught at Essex Tech and North Shore Tech since 2000. Riccio has led the school since 2017. They had previously worked on a program out of the Essex County Sheriff's Department that taught masonry skills to pre-release inmates in Lawrence.

Shelby Collins, the teacher's daughter, has been Riccio's executive assistant for the past two years.

Collins took medication for IgA nephropathy for several years before the drugs were no longer effective and he began undergoing dialysis treatments three times a week in North Andover. He worked the 3.5-hour treatments around a teaching schedule and his students' work on the ongoing Larkin Cottage construction project on campus.

The school said he learned last year that he would soon need a transplant to survive with nearly 100 family, friends and co-workers signing up to be screened as potential donors.

Collins found out last month that Riccio was a perfect match across the six antigens involving blood and tissue type, and antibody compatibility.

"He always helps the underdog, the one who needs a bit more support," Ricco said.

Collins and Riccio underwent numerous tests and screening to make sure they were both physically and emotionally ready for the operation, which was performed by surgeons Dr. Leigh Anne Dageforde and Dr. Tatsuo Kawai through the Massachusetts General Hospital Transplant program.

"She's my angel," Collins said.

The recovery time for both is six weeks — with Riccio already back working remotely and Collins expected to return to the school in early May.

"After dialysis, you feel like you've been run over by a truck," Collins said. "Now I feel like a million bucks."

Riccio said that making the donation to her friend and beloved member of the school staff was "an amazing experience" and she would recommend getting screened and becoming part of the registry to anyone considering it.

"In my heart, things happen for a reason," she said. "Someone upstairs puts you in situations to be able to make this choice."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)