LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Texas Tech University Professor Jeff Hanson is back to square one in his search for a kidney donor, after a promising match was denied at the final step.
Hanson, a mechanical engineering professor known for his millions of YouTube views and close relationships with students, already had more than 50 current and former students signed up to donate a kidney when his story was first shared in September. Since then, that number has grown to 100.
Former student Jennifer Cox was among the first to volunteer. Cox, now a senior engineering manager at Boeing in Washington state, says Hanson was one of the first people who believed in her dream.
“I would be at Boeing in the Pacific Northwest building airplanes. I mean, there’s nothing I can think of cooler than that. He goes, so why the hell don’t you do it?” she said. “I don’t know that there is a mentor in my life that I have that’s more critical than him. Most people around me told me I couldn’t do this. And when I say most, I mean all. And he was always in my corner.”
Cox started the journey to hopefully become Hanson’s donor from Washington, from paperwork to bloodwork and more. She made it to the final step of the process, going before a board for approval. But the night before the vote, she received a call that a surgeon found something in one of her scans that disqualified her as a match.
“And that’s when she got denied, there at the very last step. So, it just crushed her. And me, too,” Hanson said.
Cox said the news was devastating after coming so close to helping her former professor.
“We were this close. And now he’s got to start over. And that scares me,” she said.
Hanson was told to start recruiting donors again. He needs someone with A positive or O blood type.
Students continue to support Hanson in other ways. One student’s parents offered their home for his recovery, with two extra bedrooms close to the hospital. Another student started a GoFundMe to help cover costs.
Student Avery Pickrell is working to fundraise with local businesses after hearing about Hanson’s journey on social media. Inspired by a friend’s journey, Pickrell started her own advocacy group on campus, Student Organ Donation Advocates.
“The West Texas and Red Raider community, it’s been really, really cool to see how we can really all come together as a unit and as a group and as a team to help someone,” Pickrell said.
Despite his health challenges, Hanson continues pouring all he has into his students, looking forward to his future.
“I’ll die with a marker in my hand one day,” Hanson said. “It’s going to be alright, I’ve got big angels that are watching after me, they’re working overtime.”
Hanson remains humbled and hopeful one of his students could become the person who saves his life.
“For me, that is the most important thing about getting something like this, is the bond that you’re going to form with that person,” Hanson said. “They’re saving your life, so, you’re going to be really close to that person.”
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