Veteran teacher, coach preparing to make donation to his great-nephew in Ohio.
By: Hilary Parker
Though Bob Vivens has experienced the last day of school many times over having been a history teacher and coach at Princeton High School for 23 years this year’s culmination was different from any other.
He was exhausted by the afternoon of June 22, the day the class of 2006 would graduate.
Having given 23 vials of blood earlier in the day, he didn’t even have the energy to sign a yearbook one of his graduating seniors brought him. That is, until his student quickly rallied her classmates and provided him with fortifications two jugs of orange juice, yogurt and fruit, he recalled.
Later that day, his students were right there beside him in the hallway when the call came through from the surgical team nurse at Ohio State University’s pre-transplant center, letting him know that the surgeon had agreed to transplant one of Mr. Vivens’ healthy kidneys to his nephew’s son.
"I got to share that with a few of those kids," Mr. Vivens said. "Two hours later, I was there to share an even more special moment when they walked across that platform. It was a truly beautiful day."
Ever since he made the decision earlier this spring to donate his kidney to his great-nephew Eric a 12-year-old with only one, improperly functioning kidney people at PHS and in the greater Princeton community have been overwhelmingly supportive, said Mr. Vivens, who left for Columbus, Ohio, on Monday.
For example, he said, the school nurses at PHS dutifully monitored his blood pressure in between classes and sent the results to the OSU pre-transplant center. Similarly accommodating were Dr. Rameck Hunt and his staff conveniently located adjacent to the baseball fields who would quickly usher him (clad in his baseball uniform and racing for the team’s bus) in and out of the office in between classes and baseball games, he said.
"The love and support of the people around you will take you a long way," Mr. Vivens said, laughingly noting that his students will tell anyone that Mr. Vivens hates two things heights and needles. He’s taken to approaching his situation the way he encourages his students to live their own lives teaching them to view academic, athletic and personal challenges as things that can be overcome, not obstacles that will stand in their way, he said.
"I looked at this whole endeavor as sort of a teachable moment that ran the course of two months," he said.
Despite the physical and emotional strain inherent in preparation for kidney donation, and despite the fact that kidney donors face a more difficult recovery than transplant recipients, Mr. Vivens never mentioned any concern for himself. And, while he said he hopes the surgery will take place on the earlier of two potential dates July 18, as opposed to Aug. 16 his wish does not result from a desire to make his own transition back into the school year easier.
"My chief concern is (Eric) going from elementary to middle school," he said.
If he is not ready to resume teaching duties in early September, Mr. Vivens said, he hopes a former student will be able to head his classroom until he can return to the high school full-time. Then, he’ll be back, he said, despite the fact that each year he claims it’s his last year in the classroom. While he didn’t originally plan to be a teacher when he headed off to attend Princeton University, the generosity and support of numerous people in his hometown and adopted town of Princeton led him to realize his calling what his father calls his "gift," he said.
Just as he never hesitated to offer his kidney to "little E," Mr. Vivens said he’d respond the same way for any one of the students in his classroom at PHS it’s his way of giving back.
"In my lifetime, I’ve had a lot of guardian angels, going back to when I was a kid," he said. "When I was a knucklehead on the streets, they came and took me off the streets, a community of people jumping on board and keeping me on the straight and narrow, helping me to achieve goals. That’s really what this was all about."