Boy Who Desperately Needed Life-Saving Kidney Transplant And Spent Years In Foster System Says Getting Adopted By His Math Teacher Is “A Dream Come True”
When 12-year-old Damien informed his math and science teacher, Finn Lanning, that he would not be returning to school after the Thanksgiving break, he couldn’t begin to guess how that interaction would change his young life forever.
For the previous four years, Damien had been in the foster care system, and if that wasn’t difficult enough, the youth was also suffering from and autoimmune disease called segmental glomerulosclerosis. As a result, his kidneys had suffered damage so severe that he was in need of a transplant.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Lanning shared about the incredible struggles the young man had faced in his short life:
“It was hard for him to find placement because he was sick. He told me he had to leave the foster home he was living in and was moving into the hospital because they didn’t have another place for him. I remember kind of sitting there with him and not really knowing what to say.”
Finn Lanning and Damien
The foster care system had experienced difficulty finding a home willing and able to meet Damien’s medical needs, and as a result, he was being moved into the local hospital in Aurora, Colorado. Lanning might not have known what to say after hearing Damien’s story, but his heart told him exactly what he needed to do.
“It hit me like a ton of bricks. I mean, you just can’t sit across from somebody you care about and hear them say something like that and know that you have room to help,” Lanning said to CBS.
Lanning learned that Damien had been taken off the transplant list because there was not a stable home for him to return to for recovery. That’s when the happy bachelor sprang into action, and in March 2019 he became qualified to foster Damien. The boy told CBS he was shocked to learn that Lanning wanted to foster him.
“I was like, ‘Yes! I get out of the hospital.’ But I was like, ‘My math teacher? Out of all the people?'”
Lanning got busy learning everything he needed to know about managing Damien’s daily 12-hour-long dialysis treatments, as well as took over managing his doctors appointments.
On June 14, 2019, Damien finally received the kidney transplant he so desperately needed. After a very difficult recovery, Damien is finally back in school and even participating in school sports.
Finn and Damien are now officially a family
Damien who was hesitant to get his hopes up about a permanent life with his math teacher, he can now rest easy since Lanning’s request to adopt the now 15-year-old has been approved.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Damien said.
Early last year, Lanning set up a GoFundMe to help cover the new financial burden he was taking on in caring for a boy with such severe health issues. Anyone wishing to donate can do so here.
Recommended
Join the Discussion
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.