Christina “Christie” Domingo Behan, a middle school teacher at Queen of Angels Regional Catholic School in Willow Grove (Upper Moreland Township), was diagnosed with kidney and heart failure last year, CatholicPhilly.com reported today.

According to their coverage, Behan spent almost a month in Jefferson Abington Hospital then began dialysis and physical therapy before going through a cardiac rehabilitation program. Her heart function returned to normal which makes her eligible for a transplant.

Behan receives dialysis treatments twice a week at the DaVita Dialysis Center in Willow Grove. She needs a kidney transplant, so her husband, John, spoke to the parish at Saint David Roman Catholic Church in Willow Grove to ask for a living donor. He is currently being tested as a potential donor as well.

Behan hopes to have the transplant surgery during the summer as she waits for a suitable donor.

“So many people have responded with care and kindness,” Behan told CatholicPhilly.com. “There have been some people who reached out and offered me their kidney, and some of them have even been strangers.”

For more information about becoming a living donor, visit www.jeffersonhealth.org/services/living-donor or call the transplant center at Jefferson Hospital at 215-660-3604.

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Photos: Courtesy of Christina Behan via CatholicPhilly.com