Watch 2 Middletown Teachers Appear On 'Drew Barrymore Show'

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — On Tuesday of this week, two teachers at Saint Leo the Great School in Middletown appeared on "The Drew Barrymore Show."

The teachers are Mike Daneman, 33, and Lauren Crupi, 37; they were invited onto the show because earlier this year Daneman donated one of his kidneys to Crupi, who was in end-stage kidney failure.

You can watch a sneak peek of their interview with Barrymore here.

"It was such an amazing experience; we are so grateful they allowed us their platform to spread awareness of kidney disease," Crupi told Patch on Wednesday. "Drew Barrymore was so warm and kind. I didn't even feel nervous at all; she made it so easy to talk to her."

The show even surprised the two teachers with their own paid vacation to Garza Blanca Resort and Spa in Los Cabos, Mexico. They each received a ticket for themselves plus a guest to the resort; Crupi said she will bring her husband (they will leave the kids home in Middletown). Daneman said he will bring a guest, too and the two teachers may even try to take their vacation together.

"Today is Mike's birthday actually and I just texted him this morning to say I'm so grateful you're alive!" said Crupi. "What he did was selfless, and I want more people to be aware of organ donation."

Daneman decided to give his kidney to Crupi in June of this year, after he learned she had been battling a rare and deadly genetic kidney disease for the past 15 years. Last winter, doctors told Crupi, a mother of two, that she would be on dialysis within a year. Saint Leo the Great told all its staff about Crupi's condition and asked people to consider donating. Daneman was one of the first people to volunteer right away. Several other people Crupi knew also volunteered, including her husband, but they were not a match.

Daneman decided to donate his kidney for a very touching reason: His mother died of cancer when he was 5. Crupi has a 5-year-old daughter and he said he never wanted to see another child grow up without a mother.

The segment was actually filmed last Wednesday, Oct. 18, at the CBS studio in Manhattan. CBS sent two cars down to Middletown, and they appeared on the show for about 10 minutes total.

"Barrymore was very nice; she's very genuine in person and seemed very interested in our story," said Daneman. "What you see on camera with her is what you get. Our story definitely resonated with her and she kept saying she was grateful to people like me."

Crupi actually found out she had the disease while on her honeymoon; she was 25 years old at the time. Her mother and sister had the same disease, and she decided to get tested as well.

"I really had no symptoms until the end; it is a slow progressing disease. In the past 10 years I had issues such as high blood pressure, acidity in my blood, my kidneys stopped being able to break down phosphorus," she shared. "Then last January I started getting really weak. I was cold all the time. I started being nauseous all the time; I had a grey coloring in my skin. I didn't realize how badly I felt."

The transplant was done June 1, and both the giver and the receiver say they feel great.

"I feel amazing now. It's a complete difference," said Crupi. "I will be closely monitored for the rest of my life with medication and bloodwork. I will always have a lowered immune system and must be very careful. But doctors told me when my old kidneys died that my disease died with them. I do pray every day that my body does not reject this kidney, and I pray that this kidney takes me through the next 100 years."

Crupi's and Daneman's story was reported by Patch, the Asbury Park Press, Tap Into and picked up by Good Morning, America. The "Jennifer Hudson Show" has also asked them to appear. If you want to watch the Drew Barrymore show, it's Season 4, Episode 13 and now streaming on Paramount Plus.

Daneman teaches computer science at the Catholic elementary school in Lincroft, and Crupi teaches sixth and seventh-grade language arts.

Middletown Teacher Donated His Kidney To Fellow Teacher (Sept. 7)