Here’s generosity you can’t teach.
A Long Island middle school teacher helped save the life of a colleague she barely knew, by donating a kidney in what she called a “bucket list”-item act of mercy.
“I believe in the beauty of life and that we only get one,” said Maggie Goodman, who gave the kidney to fellow educator Thomas Coveney at IS 73 in Maspeth, even though the pair rarely ever talked before the operation.
“I don’t regret it…if I could donate a second one, I would,” added the 34-year-old teacher of special needs students.
Goodman first got word that Coveney, a 47-year-old eighth-grade social studies teacher she barely knew, was in dire need of a transplant after his mother, Judy Cataldo of Bellmore, shared an SOS flyer on Facebook last November.
“I didn’t even know I had him as a friend,” said Goodman, who described their interactions as no more than hello and goodbye.
The Rego Park man had been painfully battling focal segmental glomerulosclerosis for a decade and was put on a donor list half a year ago.
The married father of a young girl, who estimates he would have needed dialysis within two years, told The Post the “scary” diagnosis first haunted the wonder of, “Am I going to die?”
“Getting the kidney now, before I had to go on dialysis, was a lifesaver,” Coveney, the primary “breadwinner” at home, said.
“It saved my family, and I continue to work.”
North Shore University Hospital transplant Dr. Ahmed Fahmy also said that Goodman’s actions put Coveney, who plans to return to school by May, in a position for longevity.
“People who receive a living donor kidney do far much better than people who receive a deceased donor.”
A life lesson
The adventurous Goodman of East Atlantic Beach, who loves solo travel and has been skydiving, said the choice to intervene was a no-brainer because of similar circumstances she witnessed as a teenager in school.
“A classmate of mine I wasn’t close to had leukemia,” she said.
“I just remember feeling a lot of empathy because it could have easily been me.”
Since then, making a life-changing biological contribution has been on Goodman’s “bucket list.”
Ironically, she felt more comfortable giving up an organ than donating blood.
Even Goodman’s mother, Maureen Doherty, supported the shock decision that only kept her out of school for one week.
“Of course, she had concerns, but the majority was like, ‘yeah, let’s go, we’re doing this. Great. I’ll help take care of your whole surgery, whatever you need,” Goodman recalled.
Weeks ago, the humorous lifesaver surprised Coveney at school with kidney beans to let him know the news, and the two have been literally joined at the hip since the successful operation on Feb. 10.
The duo texted every day and hung out in each other’s hospital rooms post-procedure.
“We’re both very open people,” Coveney said, adding that they named the kidney Renaldo — as a pun for the renal system.
“So we are like, ‘how am I doing? I took a poop today!’”
However, the strongest bond may be between Doherty and Cataldo, who are planning a huge celebratory dinner for everyone and have bonded during their time in the hospital.
“We both loved sharing such a beautiful experience with our grown children,” said Doherty.
Cataldo, who, according to her son, is trying to set up the single Goodman with the right guy now, said the co-worker’s intervention was “like winning the lottery.”
“What she did was an act of courage,” the relieved mom, who wants word to get out that one living donor can save six lives, said. “She’s a rockstar.”
