Atlanta Public Schools family helping colleague in need of a second transplant

ATLANTA — Herschel Gay said his life’s work has always been much more than a job.

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“I saw them when they were toddlers. And to see them graduate and go out to do great things, that’s why I do it,” Gay said.

He’s been with Atlanta Public Schools for 25 years in the IT Department. School board meetings couldn’t happen without him. He also spends endless hours volunteering to help students and families in need.

“The one thing I can say – and I know people use this cliché a lot – he would literally give you the shirt off his back,” Information Technology Director Olufemi Aina said.

His friends and co-workers now are trying to give back to him. Gay was first diagnosed with kidney disease ten years ago and underwent a transplant. Now, that same organ is failing. He goes to dialysis three nights a week, and he needs another donor.

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School administrators, teachers, parents and students were at his side when he was in the hospital, and they’re now doing what they can to spread the word to find an organ donor.

“It’s heartfelt. We are a family here. APS is one large family,” Gay said. “Sometimes it brings tears to know my colleagues would do this for me,”

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Gay is now back on the waiting list for a donor.

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