COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A pair of College Station Middle School employees got a send-off Thursday from students, faculty, and staff as they prepare for surgery next week. The pair already consider themselves best friends but soon they will become physically closer than ever.
"My friend needs a kidney, I have it, now it's hers, and it's that simple," Jamie Alvarado said. Alvarado is an attendance clerk at CSISD Middle School. Alvarado first met Dawn Oden in the summer of 2018 when she was being interviewed for a position at the school.
"Day one, it was an immediate connection," Alvarado said. "We were best friends from the get-go. I mean, it was like just that person that you always knew."
So when Oden, who suffers from an autoimmune deficiency disease, was in need of a kidney transplant and was without a donor, Alvarado stepped up. It's something that didn't surprise Oden.
"If you know Jaime, that's just what she does. You know?" Oden said. "This whole campus is like this from the top to the bottom."
Thursday's event is not the first time that the middle school has shown its support for Oden. In the spring of 2021, the school raised money through a walk-a-thon for her after she was put back into dialysis after catching COVID-19 in late 2020. This type of love and support from the students is something Alvarado says is inspiring.
"Their hearts are as big as their attitudes, and they're precious and they're sincere, they care, and they keep me going, believe it or not," Alvarado said. "They really do. I love each and every one of them and I'm ready to get back to them."
Oden won't return this school year, but the plan is for her to come back in July, as long as everything goes well with the transplant.