LUBBOCK, Texas (KLTV) – A beloved Texas Tech professor with millions of YouTube views is in search of a new kidney after a potential match was denied for the Longview native.
Hanson, who was born and raised in Longview and graduated from Hallsville ISD, has had more than 100 current and former students sign up to donate a kidney, but none have been the perfect match.
One former student, Jennifer Cox, now a senior engineering manager at Boeing in Washington, said Hanson was one of the first people to believe in her.
“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 went through all of the appropriate steps to become Hanson’s donor, from the paperwork to blood draws, additional testing and everything else involved.
The final step of the process required going before a board for approval, but the aerospace engineer received a call the night before she was scheduled to appear. 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.
“We were this close. And now he’s got to start over. And that scares me,” she said.
Back at square one, Hanson was told to start recruiting donors with A positive or O blood type.
Students are still doing all they can to help the professor, with one student’s parents offering their home for his recovery since it was close to the hospital.
Despite his health challenges, the senior lecturer continues to pour 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 that 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.”
To sign up to be a part of that bond, start the application process to become his kidney donor here.
Copyright 2026 KLTV. All rights reserved.