Atlanta Public Schools employee receives long-awaited kidney transplant

ATLANTA — For a long time, an Atlanta Public Schools employee was in desperate need of a kidney transplant. He just had the surgery, after more than two years on the waiting list.

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Herschel Gay was in an Atlanta hospital bed Monday but said he’s grateful.

“I was on the dialysis machine and my phone (rang). It’s Piedmont. They’re like, guess what,” Gay said. 

They told Gay they had a kidney. Gay had been suffering from kidney disease and was on a donor waiting list for more than two years.

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It was back in 2022 when Channel 2 Action News first introduced you to Gay.

Gay has spent most of his working life in the IT department with Atlanta Public Schools. His APS family knew about his need but no one else. 

“When that Channel 2 story aired, people really knew,” Gay said. 

He says spreading the word made a difference and people he’d never met got tested to see if they were a match.

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He says it still seemed like a long shot, but he says with prayer the odds were in his favor all along.

“One in a million. It was the perfect kidney for me. (It) couldn’t have gone to anybody else but me. That’s a testimony. I thank God for that,” Gay said.

Gay says he may spend another week in the hospital and he can’t wait to get back on the job with Atlanta Public Schools.

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