Photojournalist receiving kidney donation from co-worker
By Lisa Hughes
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BOSTON (WBZ) — Right now, about 92,000 Americans are waiting for a kidney transplant, according to the American Kidney Fund. Until now, one of those names has been Jared Higginbotham, a photojournalist at WBZ-TV who has been living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) for a decade. Now he is getting the most generous gift, from a coworker who secretly went through years of medical testing in hopes of being his match.
There is an unusually tight connection between those who work the night shift at WBZ. It could be the atypical schedule – working from mid-afternoon until almost midnight, the nature of the work, or simply that we genuinely like each other. It’s not unusual to find us socializing away from work or exchanging text messages about new music, old movies, sports, books, restaurants, and more. We celebrate birthdays at work, we bond over our monthly Pizza Club, and rally around anyone on the team who is hurting.
For years we have marveled at the emotional and physical strength of our friend and colleague. Jared is a 44-year-old photojournalist. He covers breaking news, blockbuster legal cases, including Karen Read’s first trial, and Boston’s sports teams. There is nothing Jared can’t do. But living with chronic kidney disease drains his energy and tests his unflappable spirit. He dreams of a future in which he is strong and vital. A future that depends on a kidney donation.
Jared was diagnosed with Stage 2 kidney disease about 10 years ago when he had just started working at WBZ. Jared is diabetic, so the diagnosis didn’t surprise him, but it got his attention. He exercised, lost weight, focused on nutrition, and hoped for the best. But he knew, even at his most disciplined, he might be no match for, what he described in a 2020 Facebook post, as a “silent killer.”
When his kidneys began failing significantly, Jared started home dialysis. He slept hooked up to machines which did the work his kidneys couldn’t. It was uncomfortable, but better than traveling to a clinic for dialysis. Eventually, an infection made it impossible to continue home dialysis and the clinic became the only option. Jared drives to Manchester, New Hampshire three times a week for treatment. He sits, hooked up to dialysis machines, for three and a half hours and then drives to Boston for his night shift at WBZ.
Jared has been waiting on the transplant list for five years.
Those of us who are lucky enough to work with him have shared his hope that someday, someone would come forward to donate a kidney. Periodic health setbacks made Jared ineligible for the surgery at times. But he never gave up hope that eventually he would get a new kidney. What he could not have imagined is who would step up to donate.
In March of 2023, WBZ Assignment Manager Andrea Courtois, also a “nightsider,” was watching the late news at work in tears. She was watching a story about the Essex Tech Superintendent’s donation of a kidney to a beloved teacher. When the superintendent mentioned that having Type O blood was the key to the successful match, a lightbulb went off. Andrea has Type O blood. “I have magic blood,” she said proudly.
Without a word to Jared, she started the testing. Rounds and rounds of testing. Bloodwork, kidney function tests, CT scans, stress tests. She cleared every round. “It’s been remarkably easy,” Andrea said. “MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital) is amazing. They’re so nice!”
Andrea had to repeat the testing process in late 2024 after Jared suffered a serious setback that required hospitalization. At that time, she says she was glad that she had not told him they were a match. She feared it would have been devastating for him to know that she was ready to donate when he wasn’t well enough to have the transplant surgery. She kept it quiet, waiting for the right moment to tell him.
Jared also had a surprise for her. He knew she was the donor. During one of his appointments a doctor had let her name slip. Jared was stunned. “I didn’t even know she liked me that much because of the grief I give her when she gives me an assignment,” he said only half-joking.
In September, roughly 18 months after finding out, Jared pulled Andrea into an edit room and told her that he “knew what was going on.” It was a shared moment of relief. Not only were there no longer secrets between them, but they were both healthy enough to have the surgery. They began to plan, together, for the transplant.
“I almost feel like I don’t deserve it,” Jared said shaking his head. Andrea is quick to correct him. “Of course you deserve it.”
Early Tuesday morning, when most of their nightside colleagues are still sleeping, a surgeon will perform the transplant at Mass General Hospital. Jared and Andrea have been counseled, separately, about the possibility that it may not be successful. Jared didn’t need anyone to tell him that.
“I can’t get excited about any of this, really, until I wake up and they say it’s in there and it’s working,” he said. But he is also undeniably thrilled about the prospect of a fuller, healthier life and living without exhaustion. “To be able to take a gallon of water and just chug it—pound a gallon of water and then wait for the process. That’s something I’m really excited for,” he said.
Andrea isn’t worried that the surgery won’t work. “I have 100% confidence that it will work,” she said. She accepts that doctors have to warn patients about every possible outcome, but she channels her late grandmother’s mantra.
“I just felt like, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. And here we are,” she said.
Andrea is also unfazed about living with just one kidney. Her father, Roland, lost one of his kidneys to a tumor more than 15 years ago. She takes his active, healthy life as proof that she has nothing to worry about. In true, selfless “Andrea fashion” she is really just concerned for Jared.
People who know her recognize her willingness to donate one of her kidneys as an extraordinary, awe-inspiring act of generosity. She downplays it as simply “the right thing to do. I have an extra kidney that I don’t need that can save someone’s life. So why wouldn’t you do that?”
“She’s a great person,” Jared said. “She’s giving me a part of her. That’s a tall ask of anyone.”
For those 92,000 Americans on a waiting list for a kidney transplant, Jared hopes to use his second chance to raise awareness about the importance of living donors.
Success rates and a transplanted kidney’s longevity are higher when the organ comes from someone who is alive. The extensive testing that living donors like Andrea undergo ensures that the donor kidney is functioning properly. There is no such guarantee when the donor is deceased. Kidneyregistry.com also cites a reduced risk of rejection and the reduced stress of scheduling the transplant surgery as other factors in a living donor’s favor.
Jared and Andrea anticipate that the surgery will change their relationship in a wonderful way.
“I think we’re going to be linked for life,” Jared reflected.
He jokes that he will send her a Christmas card from now on, which made them both laugh. He imagines that work will be different too.
“It’ll be nice to come in and hear, ‘You’re going on the breaking news story, and you have to run.’ And I can do it! That’s something I’m hoping to do and I’m excited for,” Jared said.
If all goes well, his dreams will finally come true because of Andrea’s generous gift.
“I don’t think thank you is strong enough,” Jared said to Andrea, “But thank you.”
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