Woman Trying To Find Kidney Donor For Her High School Teacher Mom

PITTSBURGH, PA - Hockey arenas aren’t an ideal place to search for a kidney donor. But it worked for one Penguins fan last year and Rachelle Michalowski hopes it works again as she tries to find a compatible donor for her mother.

Mary Jo Michalowski is a history teacher at Ringgold High School in Washington County who has battled Stage 5 kidney disease for nearly a decade.

Michalowski “does dialysis three days a week after school and it really takes a toll on her - not only physically but emotionally,“ said Rachelle Michalowski, a part-time teacher and swimming instructor at Ringgold. “It also has been hard on my family watching her go through this over the years.”

Rachelle Michalowski can’t donate one of her own kidneys to her mother because of medical reasons but she making an attempt to find a suitable donor. After a particularly grueling session at the hospital last week, she decided to follow the example of Kelly Sowatsky, a Penguins fan who found a donor for herself by holding up a sign at a game last year at PPG Paints Arena.

Rachelle made signs for her mother and paraded them around the arena for the Penguins final two home games of the regular season and her efforts are picking up steam on social media. Her Facebook posts detailing her attempts have been shared more than 5,000 times and her tweets more than a thousand.

Patch will let you know if any progress is made in finding a potential donor.