She couldn't stand her teacher as a kid, then saw his plea for a kidney donor

10-year-old Montana Miller couldn't stand her teacher, Mitchell Grosky, and butted heads with him often, as reported by The Boston Globe. Grosky was her English teacher throughout fifth and sixth grade in Harvard, Massachusetts, but the two had not seen each other for over 40 years. Miller, now 55 years old and a university professor in Ohio with a PhD in folklore from UCLA, reconnected with Grosky in 2019 on Facebook, and the two became friends. Miller was also a member of the US Parachute Team, and invited Grosky to come take photos of her training for the World Championships at a drop zone near his home in Massachusetts. Last August, Miller learned from her former teacher's Facebook post that he was desperately searching for a kidney donor. She remembers knowing immediately that she would do whatever she had to do to save his life, and after a year of rigorous testing, she was able to donate her kidney to the teacher she once hated on April 21, 2026.

Need for a volunteer donor

In his public Facebook post, Grosky explained that a kidney transplant is usually required when the kidney function falls to 15% or less. His function had slumped to 20%, and according to the system, he would have to wait seven years before getting a transplant. “The only way you can get a kidney earlier than that is if you have a volunteer donor who has personally offered a kidney to you,” he explained.

'Best at doing things I am terrified of.'

Miller, who is also a former professional trapeze artist and currently training as a skeleton athlete, knew she had to check if she was a match. Ever since childhood, she specialized in performances and sports that are too scary or risky for most people. “The thing that I am best at doing is the things that I am terrified of,” she shared with the "Living Off Script" podcast, hosted by her former skydiving teammate Leslie Eggenberger. In conversation with The Boston Globe, she confessed, “I wanted to help Mitch so badly that it became almost painful.”

Grosky, now retired and active in many community organizations and causes, had changed a lot, Miller thought: “he’s obviously not a jerk anymore.” According to Grosky, taking large doses of ibuprofen while teaching full-time and not hydrating enough contributed to his kidney issues later in life.

'Most brilliant student'

Meanwhile, Miller learned that her blood type, O (universal donor), made her eligible to donate, and that she was healthy enough for the kidney transplant, despite having pushed her body to the extreme for many years. In addition, she was “tissue compatible” with Grosky, a very rare and unusual match for people who aren’t related, she revealed in the podcast. On April 21, the kidney transplant surgery was conducted with the two simultaneously, in adjoining operating rooms at the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, MA. Grosky praised Miller as his “most brilliant, most creative student” he has ever had.

According to the Kidney Medicine Journal, 31.1% of the public is currently registered as donors, but only 15.6% thought about donating kidneys. 78.7% would donate only if the recipient were their own family member. For Miller, however, her fifth-grade teacher now felt almost like family.

Healing together

“The pain I’m going through now is definitely not more than I can handle,” Miller told The Boston Globe. “Just like high diving, flying trapeze, skydiving, and skeleton racing, kidney donation was for me an opportunity and a responsibility to use to their fullest extent the physical gifts I was lucky enough to be given,” she said.

At present, both the student and the teacher are “painfully but positively” on the road to recovery.

For the next three months, Miller cannot participate in any strenuous physical exercise, including intensive training, and she is currently restricted from lifting anything above ten pounds or driving. But as the duo recovers, they are also healing their shared past and paving the way for newer, more connected memories in the future.

More on Scoop Upworthy

Dad begged his daughter to not donate her kidney to him — she ignored his plea and saved his life

Texas inmate on death row requests delaying his execution so he can donate kidney

Woman who donated her kidney to a stranger gets an unexpected surprise from them