When Finn Lanning, a teacher at AXL Academy in Aurora, Colorado, first met 13 year old student Damien, he had no idea just how impactful he’d be in his young student’s life.
Damien experienced kidney failure when he was 8 years old. Unfortunately, due to unstable foster home situations, Damien wasn’t eligible to be on the transplant list.
Mr. Lanning shared with CNN, “Since his diagnosis, he has had to live in the hospital. One stay was a year. Others were a couple months. That was the result (of) a lack of suitable placement.”
At first, becoming a foster parent to Damien wasn’t something the teacher had considered, since it would be a huge undertaking — Damien spends more than 12 hours each day connected to a home dialysis machine, and has a very restrictive diet to abide by — but then, in December, he started training to care for his teenage student.
“I couldn’t just not do it. I didn’t see it as an option,” Mr. Lanning shared.
The two have been adjusting to their new lives together, and because of the now stable home environment with a foster parent trained to care for Damien, the teen has been approved to be on the transplant list.
Because Damien is a growing young man with special dietary needs, the food bill can get pretty hefty. Mr. Lanning started a GoFundMe account to help with Damien’s basic needs, while some of his coworkers have been donating their vacation time to the teacher who often has to take off for his foster son’s doctor’s appointments.
Down the line, Mr Lanning says he hopes to officially adopt Damien.
(MSN)
