STERLING - The kindness of strangers took on a whole new meaning for two recipients - one who received a kidney donation and the other bone marrow - from Sterling resident Karen Mayotte.

Two years ago, a preschooler at Center School in Stow, where Mayotte has taught second grade for 15 years, died after his body rejected a heart transplant.

“After he passed away it was, and still is, emotionally devastating for his family and friends, as well as the entire Stow community,” Mayotte said.

While that loss and the aftershock was transpiring, Mayotte came across a Facebook post about a man in Tewksbury named Michael Malizia, who was in desperate need of a kidney transplant. His kidneys had failed due to lupus, which he was diagnosed with at age 19. Mayotte felt compelled to do something. The day after viewing the post, she contacted Malizia's wife.

“Jenn was absolutely ecstatic that I was interested in pursuing testing for the kidney donation,” Mayotte said.

That same week, Mayotte contacted Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and was put in touch with the transplant coordinator. She went through the testing. When the coordinator called her in February 2018 and told her she was a match, Mayotte immediately called the Malizias.

“That was a very happy day for all involved,” she said.

The day came for the kidney donation and recipient surgeries for Mayotte and Malizia, respectively, and they laid on beds near each other in the same operating room. The surgery took four hours. During that time, one of Mayotte’s two kidneys was removed from her and immediately transferred to Malizia.

Although recovery from the kidney transplant surgery was “painful,” Mayotte said, she wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

“I always prided myself on being a good role model for my children and my students for being kind,” Mayotte said. “Even in my classroom, a big part of my class culture is random acts of kindness, which we share about on a daily basis. However, when I found out about the opportunity to be a kidney donor, it felt like the most perfect opportunity to be a better person.”

It turns out Mayotte would have yet another opportunity to step in and change the course of a stranger’s life. A year after the kidney transplant surgery, she was contacted by Be The Match, which is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program.

“It is such an important organization in helping to fight against blood cancers and other diseases,” Mayotte said.

She had given a cheek swab 14 years ago and was registered within the organization as a bone marrow donor.

“I was very surprised to find out that I was a match for a patient,” Mayotte said. “The only information I was given was that it was for a 26-year-old male with a blood cancer.”

She took it as a sign and decided she had to donate. The bone marrow harvest surgery on May 26 took around two hours. The surgeons drew two liters of marrow from the back of her pelvic bones and Mayotte stayed overnight at Mass. General Hospital in Boston.

“I had lower back pain for around two weeks, however over the counter medication relieved the pain considerably,” Mayotte said. “I was very fatigued for the first few weeks, as it takes between four and six weeks to regain normal blood cell counts.”

While Mayotte will not be able to be in touch with the recipient of her bone marrow until exactly a year post-donation, when she will receive his name, contact information and an update on his health since the transplant, she was able to meet Malizia the day after she found out that she was a match for him.

“I remember being so very nervous meeting him in person.” Mayotte recalls. “Our surgery was six weeks later. Since the surgery, we consider ourselves family. We meet up once a month for dinner, as well as celebrate birthdays and holidays together as a big, new family.”

Each September, Mayotte and Mazilia and their families attend the Blue and Green Walk in Boston, which raises money for tissue and organ donation. Last year, Mayotte's daughter Sadie helped spread the word about Dave Shaw, a man from Rhode Island in desperate need of a kidney.

“Thankfully he was able to find a living kidney donor and is recovering wonderfully,” Mayotte said of Shaw.

Mayotte said she is grateful for the opportunities she had to donate a kidney and bone marrow. She will remain in the bone marrow donation registry and would do it again if the opportunity arises.

“Sometimes you will get called back to donate to the same recipient, and I would be more than willing to donate to him again,” she said.

Mayotte encourages others to become registered organ donors. One donor can potentially save up to eight lives; there are currently over 93,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant in this country alone.

“You can also directly contact any of the medical centers in your immediate area,” Mayotte said. “Facebook and other social media are also great platforms in order to spread the word for living donor searches.”

Being selfless is something parents strive to instill in their children, and Mayotte is no different. She gives back to her local community by running the Center School Garden, which provides fresh vegetables to the Stow Food Pantry during the summer months; during the school year the harvest is used in the school cafeteria.

Mayotte’s children, ages 21, 13, 11, 8 and 6, have witnessed firsthand from their mother’s actions the power of giving to others – even people you don’t know.

“For me to be able to literally save two people's lives in the same year is a truly wonderful feeling.”

Visit www.DonateLife.net and www.kidney.org for more information on organ donation, and www.BeTheMatch.org to register as a bone marrow donor.