'New life' for near-stranger

'New life' for near-stranger
Burton teacher donating kidney to mom's friend

GENESEE TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Thursday, December 13, 2007
By Joe Lawlor
jlawlor@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6312

QUICK TAKE
Gift of Life

To learn about organ donation, go online to www.giftoflifemichigan.org or call (800) 482-4881.

***

KEARSLEY - Kelley Goulish is donating a piece of herself to someone she barely knows.

Not that Goulish sees anything so remarkable about donating a kidney to her mother's friend, Mona LaFlair, whom she's met only once.

"People keep saying, 'You're an incredible person' and 'You're so brave,' but I really don't look at it like that. God opened a door for me to help someone," said the soft-spoken Goulish.

LaFlair, 66, of Lake Park, Minn., said Goulish's donation is a selfless act. The transplant surgery is expected to be Tuesday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

"That is an absolutely wonderful, unbelievable family," said LaFlair, who is undergoing dialysis because her kidneys are failing. "She gave me a new life. I will always be grateful to her."

LaFlair and Goulish's parents, Beverly and Robert Foster, met at their winter homes in Lakeland, Fla., about three years ago. They quickly became friends, and Beverly Foster said she was sad to hear of LaFlair's medical problems.

Without a living donor, the waiting list to receive a kidney from a deceased donor is so long it would probably take several years, LaFlair said.

Foster and her older daughter, Susan Smith, offered to be organ donors when they heard about LaFlair's condition. They were tested at the Mayo Clinic in June and were not a match.

So Goulish, 45, who was accompanying them on the trip, offered to be the donor. The Weston Elementary School kindergarten teacher was tested in October and found to be a match.

The surgery comes at a hectic time for the Goulish family of Burton. Kelley's husband, Gibbon Goulish, recently was called up with the U.S. Army Reserves, and he's training soldiers on small arms weaponry in California for a year. They have three children, two adults and a high school student.

She said she scheduled the surgery for Tuesday so she would miss as little time teaching her class as possible. But she said then she felt guilty because LaFlair had to start dialysis in the fall.

LaFlair said the last feeling Goulish should have is guilt. But Foster said it's just the way her daughter is.

"She always puts herself last with everything," Foster said. "She always thinks of other people before she thinks of herself."

Goulish said after she recovers in a few weeks, she'll be able to do everything she did before.

"The only thing I can't do is play contact sports, and I don't intend to play hockey or football," Goulish said, laughing.

***

http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-47/119757362525690.xml&coll=5