Lindsey Painter said she was shocked to learn she was a match and is thrilled to give this gift to her student, Matthew Parker.

When 6-year-old Matthew Parker wrote a letter to Santa last Christmas, he had one simple wish: a new kidney.

universitytransplantcenter.com

Now, his wish is coming true. Matthew's first-grade teacher, Lindsey Painter, turned out to be a perfect match and is now planning on donating her kidney to her student.

"It never occurred to me that I could help him," Painter said in a press release from the Comal Independent School District, where she works. "When they asked for people to volunteer to be tested, I was the first one to sign up. I was shocked when I received the phone call that I was a preliminary match."

Via comalisd.org

When he was two he received a transplant from a deceased donor. However, his body began to reject the new organ.

Last year, officials at San Antonio's University Transplant Center held a press conference to try and find Matthew a living donor. More than 80 people got tested, but the Parkers thought that the prospects were bleak.

"The nurse at the hospital said we had to be realistic," Lisa Parker, Matthew's mother, said in the press release. "The term 'Needle in a haystack' was used several times."

However, Painter turned out to be a match. She said she was shocked at first, and had to consider how the surgery and recovery time would affect her own family. But she said the more she read about the process, the more excited she got.

"I look at my own boys and then I see some of the things Matthew isn't able to do because of his illness," she said. "He has the right to be able to run, be loud and play just like every other kid his age does."

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